The Adventures of Team 9 Catering
by Cyberchao X
Summary: The lovable band of idiots in their attempts to run a successful business. Takes place after their appearance in Chapters 11-14 of The Scarlet Devil. And no, the characters tagged aren't in the romances with each other.
1. Chapter 1

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: These characters are not now, nor have they ever been my property.

Chapter ➀

"Hey there sweetie," came the cool voice of Yamame Kurodani. "How's business treating you?"

"It's good for the most part," replied Wriggle Nightbug, "but we haven't gotten many customers yet."

"Hey! I thought I made a 'no girlfriends at work' policy!" interrupted the night sparrow youkai, Mystia Lorelei.

"If you keep jumping to conclusions like that, Mystia-chan, you just might lose out on business," replied the spider youkai.

"You have a job for us?"

"Yeah. Nothing too big; it probably won't even require all five of you. Of course, I want my Wriggle-chan to be there…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Mystia said. "I know I'd want to be at any event we were catering where Lyrica-chan was. So what's the occasion? Because just because our first big gig required us to double as wait-staff doesn't mean that we're always going to do that."

"Yeah, it would be kind of weird having all of these extra people around. Most of my friends know Wriggle-chan already, so that wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but—"

"Yama-chan, tell us what we're catering already!" Wriggle interrupted.

"Ah, right, the party. Parsee-san's got a birthday coming up soon, and Yuugi-san thought it would be nice if we threw her a party."

"Somehow she'll still find a way to be jealous of something, even when everything in the world is being done for her. I take it it's not just the two of you throwing her this party, then?"

"Well, we're the ones hosting it, of course, but there will be other guests—even a few surface-dwellers, like that curse goddess. We also invited the shinigami, but her boss said that she'd taken too much time off already and wouldn't be able to make it."

"Yeah, not exactly a surprise there. So this was all Yuugi-san's idea?"

"Yes, why?"

Wriggle sighed. "Those two should just go out already. It's obvious that they have feelings for one another."

"Yuugi-san and Parsee-san? Nah, it would never work. Yuugi-san is a good friend, but she'd make a horrible girlfriend; too irresponsible and enjoys her freedom too much. You could say that about just about any oni, actually."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. And by 'freedom' you mean…"

Yamame nodded. "Oh yeah. Most of the male guests at this party have slept with Yuugi-san at least once, and there aren't even any awkward feelings because everyone knows that she's never going to have a meaningful relationship. Probably about half the female ones, too."

"You sure have some strange friends, Yama-chan."

"The Underground is a strange place. A lot of them think I'm weird for dating a girl so much younger than me, but I don't care what they think." She kissed Wriggle, and the two of them started making out before Mystia quickly made a point of _loudly_ clearing her throat. "Sorry about that. So, can you guys do it?"

"Yeah, we'll do it; just get us a list of how many people will be there," Mystia said. She sighed. "We really need to find some clients who _don't _have personal ties to us, though," she told Wriggle, "I'm afraid Cirno-chan will get jealous if we keep getting our jobs based on our girlfriends' locations."

"I agree. Lately she's been extra-irritable regarding her loveless situation." They both sighed. Regardless of how it came to them, it was another day's work.

* * *

><p>CCX: Well, so much for waiting until <em>The Scarlet Devil<em> was actually finished to start on this. I had some spare time, and since I'd just put out two chapters yesterday and a _Phantasm_ this morning I figured it would be best to ease back on that story for a little bit. I'm not sure if I'll devote a second chapter to the party itself or if I'll just move on to the next story, but I think we're off to a good start. (And yes, those "other residents of the Underground" that will be attending Parsee's birthday party are just filler characters, most if not all of which will remain nameless even if I do write another chapter on this.) Of course, I can think of at least one event where their presence will eventually be needed…


	2. Chapter 2

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: The thing that disclaims.

Chapter ➁

"Hey, everyone! You've got to read this!" Rumia went running through the small building that Team 9 Catering had managed to acquire, waving a newspaper around.

Mystia Lorelei and Wriggle Nightbug just looked at each other. "But how did you…?" Wriggle asked.

"Cirno-chan read it to me!" Rumia replied.

"Cirno-chan can read?" Mystia asked.

"YES, CIRNO-CHAN CAN READ!" the fairy in question shouted as she entered the room.

"Ah…sorry, Cirno-chan," Mystia apologized, as Wriggle tried not to laugh at Cirno's accidental use of the third person to refer to herself. "What is it that's so important?"

"That crow wrote about us in her newspaper!"

"You don't sound too happy about it. I take it the article wasn't flattering?"

"Just read it."

Mystia read it over. "Cirno-chan, this really isn't that bad. Insulting, yes, but you have to remember that we were performing other duties besides our usual ones at that party, and the fact that we weren't very good servers is irrelevant. She complimented the food, which is the most important part, and while it won't help us gain any big gigs like the wedding, we'll score plenty of catering jobs."

"…You really think so?"

"Also, the important part is that it _is_ publicity. Most people in Gensokyo don't really take Aya-san terribly seriously anyway, so the fact that she wrote an article about us at all is probably more important than what she actually said."

"Yeah, but for some reason, our name was written as "Team ➈ Catering". I don't know what that means, but I don't like it! And we still don't have anything lined up."

"Actually, we just got one earlier today, before you came in. Some of Wriggle-chan's friends from the Underground. But yeah, I don't like that either; it sounds kind of rude."

"By which you mean another 'job' that's really just an excuse for one of us to hang out with her girlfriend."

"Well if you have any better ideas, feel free to speak up. Until then, we're actually getting work. We can't afford to be picky."

"…So what will we be doing?"

"Just catering," Wriggle said, "it's just a birthday party. One of Yama-chan's friends."

"…a big party?"

"Yama-chan hasn't gotten back to us with a guest count, but she said we probably wouldn't need the whole team."

"It's pretty dark down there, right? Rumia-chan would feel right at home."

"Really? I'd be going on this one?"

"Yep," Cirno said, "you sure would."

"Yay!"

Meanwhile…

"Hello…Aya-chin."

The tengu instinctively tensed up upon hearing the odd honorific, even though she knew on a conscious level that the voice did not belong to Yukari Yakumo. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"I read your latest issue. You wrote an article about someone quite dear to me. You weren't terribly kind to her. I would think…that you of all people would see the error in that."

"I write things all the time. Most people know that my stories are a bit exaggerated."

"You made her out to be a buffoon. I'm sure you'd be quite interested to find out what would happen if I gave this article to Yukari-sama."

Aya wondered what could possibly be of any interest to the youkai of boundaries before realizing, "R-R-Ran-sama? That's who you are, right? Is this about the article on Team 9 Catering? Because I only reported the truth! The food was very good—magnificent!—but the servers were subpar, especially Chen-chan." (And now you know why everyone addressed Chen without an honorific in Chapter 13.)

"And _what_ was _wrong_ with Chen?"

"She's a klutz! She kept dropping things, tripping over things, and generally messing things up."

"Aah…she's so cute, isn't she?" Ran gushed.

"Yes, adorable."

"Then you'll revise your article, right?"

"Whatever you say, San-rama, I mean Ran-sama!"

* * *

><p>CCX: I've had <em>Touhou<em> music show up in my dreams before, but last night was the first time that something with a distinctly Touhou sound showed up that wasn't related to either of the Scarlet sisters. After initially misidentifying it as an arrangement of _The Dollmaker of Bucaresti_—which would be curious in its own right as the song is usually overshadowed by the somewhat similar and far more popular _Doll Judgment_—I realized that, quite appropriately given that today is 4/13, it was actually the Homestuck song "Heir Conditioning", which of course samples _Beloved Tomboyish Girl._ Hence I'm in a very Cirno mood today.

On the subject of it being April 13, last night's problem turned out to be irrelevant. Although the tracking suggests that the last two chapters of _The Scarlet Devil_ didn't show up until just before the day turned over, I still easily passed the 100-hit mark even without the hits that I myself ended up adding when looking for my missing chapters. It's been one full month since the last time my daily hits were down in double-digits. You've all been so wonderful. Thanks for reading my stories!


	3. Chapter 3

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: I make no claims; therefore I disclaim.

Chapter ➂

"I'm surprised that Cirno-chan okayed this team," Wriggle Nightbug said. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Well, she said that I'd get to go, and Mystia-chan insisted that this was your sale and that you were a must, and of course Chen-chen has to drive the cart…"

"But why _is_ that?"

"I dunno. Something to do with being a cat."

"I thought that was wheelbarrows." (A/N: It's some sort of Japanese pun; ZUN himself used it when characterizing Orin.) "Well, it's nice being away from their bickering for once."

"Ha, yeah…"

Yamame and Yuugi greeted them at the entrance to the Underground. Yuugi was far more controlled than her fellow oni, Suika Ibuki, though no less drunk. Wriggle had never understood why Suika never really seemed to build up the tolerance to alcohol that most oni appeared to have. The duo showed the caterers in. "So glad you made it here in time," Yamame said, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend and pulling her close. "And don't you worry about your uniform," she whispered, "I've got something perfect for you to wear at the party."

Wriggle smiled. One of the perks of dating Yamame was that she always got fashionable clothing, and better still it usually removed any doubts anyone had about her femininity. "I can hardly wait."

"I'm surprised Parsee-san hasn't figured out what you guys are doing," Wriggle observed, as they continued to unload the cart.

"Yeah, this is going to be quite the party," Rumia agreed.

Yuugi replied, "It really isn't. Just a few friends from the Underground and the curse goddess and this weird girl who showed up as soon as she heard there was a surprise party going on."

Wriggle and Rumia took a glance at each other and immediately agreed. "Kogasa."

"Is that the sound of a party going on that I wasn't invited to? I'm jealous," Parsee said, wandering down towards the party. The passing of Chen and Rumia over the bridge in their cart sealed it, and she set off, only to immediately be set upon by a large umbrella and a girl's voice yelling "SURPRISE!", followed by other, more familiar voices saying the same thing. "Wh-what's all this? Why wasn't _I_ told that there was going to be a party today?"

"Because that's not how surprise parties work, Parsee-moto! The guest of honor is always the last to know."

"You…threw me a party?"

"Have you forgotten that today is your birthday? Parsee-moto, you can be so hopeless sometimes…Yeah, I was the one who decided to throw a party for you, and Yama-moto helped put it together, even recruited little Wriggle-chan and her friends to help set up."

"…Thank you, Yuugi-san…"

"Cheer up, Parsee-chan. You're supposed to be _happy_ today!"

"H-Hina-chan? You're here too? Oh my…" The bridge guardian girl started to go weak. Hina quickly caught her.

"Should I be insulted by that reaction?" asked the curse goddess, but her tone of voice suggested that she was teasing.

"N-no, not at all…Hina-chan…um…"

"Yes, I think I know what you want." Much to the surprise of everyone in the room, Hina took Parsee's lips and enveloped them with her own, giving the bridge princess a brand new experience. "Way to go _im__ōto_!" Yuugi cried out. (A/N:This is just part of my characterization of Yuugi, calling her closest friends "sisters"—but of course using the word for "little sister", because she's the Cool Big Sis)

Parsee blushed and pushed away when she realized they had an audience. "Later," she whispered.

Meanwhile, Yamame was dragging a not-fully dressed Wriggle down the hall as the younger girl tried to button her blouse on the move. "Okay, what did we miss?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing much compared to what you two were up to," someone, one of the other denizens of the Underground, replied.

"We weren't up to anything at the time," Wriggle refuted, "I was just changing out of my work uniform. I'm also with the company that catered this shindig as well as being a guest at this particular event. Wriggle Nightbug," she said, now fully composed, pulling a business card out of her handbag, "our card."

_**Team 9 Catering**  
><em>**Cirno**, President and CEO  
><strong>Mystia Lorelei<strong>, Founder and COO  
><strong>Daiyousei<strong>, Senior Adviser  
><strong>Wriggle Nightbug<strong>, CFO  
><strong>Rumia Yagami<br>Chen Yakumo**

"Ah…Karlas Kreutzschif. My…my apologies for insinuating that you were doing anything dirty, Miss Nightbug."

"That's perfectly understandable, Kreutzschif-san," the name felt awkward to Wriggle, making it even harder for her not to giggle, "it's nothing we weren't probably going to do after the party anyway. So anyway, what happened?"

"Well, Miss Parsee got her surprise party, got a bit weak-kneed when she saw that this woman from the surface had come, and then the two started making out."

"Really? I did not expect that."

"I did," Yamame said, "it's been pretty obvious that they have a thing for each other. Parsee-san's just too shy to say anything, and Hina-san thinks her shyness is so cute that she hadn't made any moves."

"Hm, I guess you'd know better than me, Miss Yamame," Karlas said. "Because all of us were stunned—even Yuugi was taken by surprise at first, though she recovered quickly."

"And then she started cheering them on, which is what brought us out."

"Yeah, pretty much. Then again, this is a pretty big thing—as far as I know, that was Miss Parsee's first kiss. And her second, and her third, and her fourth…"

"Good thing we've already got a party in her honor, or else we'd have to throw one for her," Yamame said.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Miss Nightbug. The rumors don't do you justice!"

"Uh…thanks." She turned to her girlfriend. "Rumors?"

"A lot of people here just know that I'm dating a girl who is a bit younger than me, and naturally, I get accused of being a lolicon. So when he says that the rumors don't do you justice, he's complimenting you on how mature you look."

"Your handiwork as much as mine."

"You give me too much credit. I make the clothes to fit your body; you make _them_ beautiful, not the other way around." Wriggle gave a little blush, and Yamame couldn't help but giggle as the younger girl held herself with great confidence for the rest of the night, making her modest endowment look almost respectable.

* * *

><p>CCX: Probably going to need some supplemental stories for this—this one's supposed to be K+, and continuing to detail either HinaParsee or Wriggle/Yamame would go into at least T, if not M. And we've introduced another OC, with a rather Germanic name who uses Westernized honorifics. He'll probably end up being a client eventually, but when?

Also, I've noticed that even though Cirno and Mystia are the two names given for "characters", Wriggle seems to have gotten the most screen time thus far. Hopefully that will change soon-not that I don't absolutely _love_ Wriggle.

Final Note: Yeah, I know that the last name I used for Rumia is generally only applied to her superpowered unsealed side in fanon, but since she doesn't have an actual last name, I figured why not? Besides, technically they are the same person-or rather, the real owner of that body is Rumia Yagami.


	4. Chapter 4

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: _Touhou Project_ is property of ZUN.

Chapter ➃

"Wait, you're closing up the shop?"

"Just for the day, Cirno-chan," Mystia Lorelei said. "Unless you want to watch it yourself."

"I wouldn't be by myself…Daiyousei's here!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…too bad. I was kind of hoping you'd come with me."

"Why would I want to come with you when you're going off to be with your girlfriend?"

"I'm just helping her out with moving some stuff. We _shouldn't_ be doing anything like lovers. Although knowing Lyrica-chan, she's probably going to try to break down my resolve…especially because Luna-san isn't going to be there. Merlin-san's so laid back that she wouldn't try to stop Lyrica-chan; she'd probably encourage it. And so…I wanted to have someone else there who will be serious. Lyrica-chan can be _very_ persuasive; the things she can do with her—" Seeing Cirno's anger rising, she quickly stopped herself and changed the subject. "Don't you have a friend who lives up in that direction, too?"

"Letty-san only comes out during the winter," Cirno replied, "she wouldn't be out now. But I guess it would be interesting to see what's out there; I've never been up past the lake."

"…Yes, you have. We all went out there for Marisa's bachelorette party."

"…Wait, that other mansion we passed on the way to Haku-whatever belonged to the Prismriver-tachi?"

Mystia sighed. "Yeah, that's the one."

"What exactly are you moving? And where are you taking it?"

"I have no idea."

* * *

><p>"Winter's coming already? What happened to autumn?" cried a very confused fairy.<p>

"It's still summer, Lily-chan," Mystia replied. "That's just Cirno-chan you're feeling. She's an ice fairy."

"An ice fairy? Cool!" Cirno and Mystia laughed. "Huh? What did I say?"

"Cool. You know, like ice?"

"Oh!" Lily White laughed as well. "Oh, I didn't even realize! So, your name is Cirno? I'm Lily White. I announce the arrival of spring!"

"…Why?"

"Hmm…I don't know. I just do!"

"Okay. You certainly seem like the right fairy for the job. Very…energetic."

"Thanks, I guess. Most of the fairies I know think I'm too much. Too much _what_, I don't know. …But I bet you could keep up with me!"

"You mean like a danmaku battle? Because I should warn you, I'm the strongest fairy there is!"

"Ha ha! We'll see, won't we?"

"Mysti-chan!" another voice cried out.

"Wah! Sorry, Lyrica-chan! Grr…you can have your battle another time, Cirno-chan."

"But Mystia-san…!"

"You brought _Cirno-tan_ with you?"

"Hey!" The ice fairy turned angrily on Lyrica. "You haven't earned the right to call me that!"

"Um…bye, Cirno-chan! See you later!"

"B-bye, Lily-chan!" Cirno called back.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you brought Cirno-tan with you," Lyrica repeated, carrying a box. "How are we going to be able to sneak off to make out now?"<p>

"That's exactly _why_ I brought her," Mystia replied. "Someone has to be responsible, and it's clearly not you."

"You didn't think you could dissuade me yourself?"

"You're…quite good at what you do."

"Why, you don't mean…"

"BACK TO WORK, YOU TWO!" Cirno interrupted.

Mystia gave Lyrica a quick peck on the cheek. "And that's why Cirno-chan is here."

Lyrica sighed. _"Of all of the ones who it could have been, it had to be her. She's never found anyone, and so she's bitterly jealous of anyone who has a relationship, and she gets angry. Maybe we need to find someone for her...it would be good for her. Kind of like how my sisters thought it would be good for me to find someone…and that's worked out beautifully so far. Maybe I should mention it to Mystia some time…"_

* * *

><p>CCX: So did <em>Fairy Wars<em> simply not happen in this timeline, or did I just accidentally end up setting an explicit time frame for this part of my body of work? I _think_ that at the moment, this story is still taking place before the end of "The Scarlet Devil", but it's possible that the drama over at the SDM has already been resolved by this point—there's really no way to be sure; we only know that it's definitely taking place after Chapter 14. As for where this portion fits in with the canon, it's not exactly clear—we've established that it's at some point after _Hisoutensoku_, but it's very vague as to exactly how far afterwards, as about the only thing that has definitely been established is that it's been somewhere between two and three years since _Mountain of Faith._ Hmm…I think I may have just come up with an idea for where to take this story next. Just in time, too— it seemed like this was on the verge of accidentally turning into another romance fic, which isn't really a _bad_ thing but it's not what I intended.


	5. Chapter 5

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: All characters property of ZUN, and to a looser degree so is the plot. Actually, there's nothing "loose" about it at times—I'm horrible at writing fight scenes so at points I'm lifting dialogue directly from the translation.

Chapter ➄—Retelling of Fairy Wars Part 1

"Why are Cirno-chan and Dai-san having a danmaku battle out back?" Rumia asked to no one in particular.

"Cirno-chan's practicing for her battle with Lily-chan," Mystia said. "I've never seen her so excited. Also, we're over here."

"Is that so?"

"It's not just about Lily-chan!" Cirno corrected, "It's also about getting revenge on the ones who destroyed my home!"

"Someone destroyed your home?" Chen asked.

"Yes! There were these three fairies!"

"We could take care of them!" Rumia said.

"Thank you, Rumia-chan, but this is a matter of honor. I'll handle them myself."

Cirno headed off towards the Misty Lake, where she discovered Sunny Milk. "Hey, could you help us out a little? We seem to have had war declared on us."

"Oh, it's you! You're the noisy one!"

"W-Whaaat?"

"That's right, I haven't forgotten! You destroyed my house the other day, didn't you? So I declared war on you!"

"Wait, so perhaps the one who declared war on us..."

"It's me! And now you're gonna die!" The battle itself was anticlimactic (which is code for "the author sucks at writing fight scenes"), and Cirno moved onwards. Before she could find another of the fairies she was angry at, she happened upon Lily. "Lily-chan!"

"Hi, Cirno-chan! Are you ready for our battle?"

"You know it!"

* * *

><p>CCX: That was…shorter than I expected. I think the next couple will be fairly short, too.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: All characters property of ZUN, as is some of the plot, vaguely.

Chapter ➅—Retelling of Fairy Wars Part 2

What followed was…a rather silly excuse for a danmaku battle. Compared to her previous battle, Cirno barely exerted any effort, not bothering to use any spell cards at all for quite some time before finally breaking out…"Icicle Fall ~ Easy". Lily didn't take advantage of the safe spot, either—she seemed too awed that Cirno actually _had_ a spell card. "Wow! You're so cool!" She giggled. "I mean that you're really amazing! Although you're also very nice to hang around…" Lily was referring to the refreshing aura of cold that Cirno exuded, but of course Cirno misinterpreted it and was left tongue-tied and flustered, allowing Lily to get back into the match.

"Ah! No fair distracting me like that, Lily-chan!"

"What? What did I do? …Although I don't think I could ever beat you anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"Gwah…Freeze Sign—Perfect Freeze!" The flustered fairy ended the battle. "Oh, no, Lily-chan! I'm so sorry!"

Lily laughed it off. "You're the strongest fairy I've ever met!"

Cirno blushed. "W-well…"

"Pretty, too." Cirno was again left speechless. Lily giggled. "So, what are you doing up around here, Cirno-chan?"

"Oh, that's right! I'm out for revenge against these fairies that destroyed my house!"

"What! That's so mean! …Can I come along, too?"

"Ah…it's…it's sort of a matter of honor, and besides…they're pretty strong, for fairies. They even have spell cards and everything. That first spell card I showed you was my weakest one; it never really works right…if _that_ awed you, this might be a bit much."

"Hey! I may not have my own spell cards, but I'm still pretty strong for a fairy as well! And I'm sure they're not as strong as you! 'Cuz you're the strongest, right?"

Again Cirno blushed, causing her face to become surrounded with steam as the heat interacted with the frozen air that her aura was producing. (CCX: No, I haven't quite figured out how Cirno manages to naturally freeze the air around her yet is safe to approach. It's best to just ignore that.) "Um, well…okay…"

Deeper in the Forest of Magic, the duo came across Star Sapphire. Cirno showed off another spell card, Minus K, but with Lily's help, the battle actually ended up being easier than the one against Sunny. The star fairy was no match for the combined might of two fairies. "Haha! That'll teach them!" Cirno yelled.

"You're really cute when you get all worked up; you know that?" Cirno stammered for a bit and failed to come up with a coherent response, and Lily kissed her on the cheek. _"I think I'm in heaven,"_ Cirno thought.

* * *

><p>CCX: Oh, come on, I totally telegraphed this one in Chapter ➃. One more chapter left in the Retelling of Fairy Wars…I think.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: All characters property of ZUN, as is some of the plot, vaguely, and perhaps some of the lines.

Chapter ➆—Retelling of Fairy Wars Part 3

Even together, Lily and Cirno were in a tough spot against Luna Child, and had Cirno been alone, she quite likely would have lost. "Wait up, Cirno-chan!" Lily called as Cirno chased the retreating fairy.

"No way! I'm not letting this one get away!"

"But you're barely even staying in the air! You need to rest!"

"Too late!" She caught up to Luna. "It's about time you wake up and smell the roses! You should really regret making me your enemy now!"

"Oh my, you caught me up such fast? But, I don't have to worry any more. You don't stand a chance."

"Sounds like you're just being a sore loser to me!"

"Thanks for waiting!" Sunny Milk cut in.

"Now, let's fight!" added Star Sapphire.

Cirno was taken aback, but tried to bluff confidence. "A-About time all three were present! Now we can fight as much as we like." The trio started to bombard Cirno, and she was barely even able to last until their first spell card began. _"Crap…Lily-chan was right. I can't win this…"_

"Firefly Sign |Comet on Earth|!"

"Vocal Sign |Howl of the Horned Owl|!" Cirno looked up, hearing the familiar spell card names. "Figures you'd need us to bail you out!" Mystia teased.

"W-w-what's this?" Luna asked.

"Three-on-one isn't very fair," Wriggle said, "especially not after the one has already battled each of you on your own. So how about you go three-on-three with us? Cirno-chan, stay back."

"Three…"

"Chen couldn't make it, unfortunately," Daiyousei explained. "Too bad; she could've made this really easy. You just stay back here with me."

"Chen's not _that _strong when she's away from Ran-sama; I could probably give her a good fight. You're not fighting?"

"I can't use spell cards either, remember?"

"Right. Wait, if you're not fighting, and I'm not fighting, and Chen's back with Ran-sama, then…"

"Darkness Sign |Demarcation|!"

"…Great. It might as well be 3-on-2; let's just hope she doesn't end up hitting Mystia-chan and Wriggle-chan."

By this point Lily had caught up to Cirno. "Whew! I was worried I'd be too late!"

"Heh…I'm just lucky my friends showed up. Sorry for making you worry, Lily-chan."

Cirno received a hug in reply. "It's okay. Just…be more careful, okay? You may be the strongest fairy, but multiple weaker fairies can band together to defeat a stronger foe…and those three just might be numbers 2 through 4." Cirno had to agree; they were the only other fairies she'd ever met that could use spell cards.

Meanwhile, Rumia was actually doing a remarkably good job at aiming despite her inability to see properly. The three fairies eventually figured out how to aim back at her. "Watch out, Rumia-chan!" Then there was an explosion, and everything went black.

* * *

><p>CCX: Subtle, no, but…<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering

by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: All _Most_ characters are property of ZUN. Try to remember where the line between canon and fanon lies, however, because I feel no need to be faithful to the latter.

_I'm a member of the Midnight Crew…_

Chapter ❽

"What was that?" Wriggle asked.

"Um…we won," Rumia said weakly.

"That doesn't answer my question, Rumia-chan."

"Yeah, turn down your darkness, will you? Even _I'm_ having trouble seeing," Mystia said.

"I…can't. Although it's not bothering me so much right now."

"Ah, free at last," came another voice.

"Not really," Rumia replied, "you're still in my body."

"_My_ body."

"Nuh-uh! This one's mine!"

"…can we really even tell our bodies apart?"

"Gah…how'd it get so dark so suddenly?" Cirno asked, having managed to stumble over to Wriggle's weak light and holding onto Lily tightly.

"Rumia-chan's power seems to have gone out of control. Also, she's talking to someone I've never heard…arguing about whose _body_ it is…" Wriggle thought about this. "I think she's got a split personality or something."

"Not exactly…this _troublemaker_ is Kuroi Yagami. My twin sister."

"Who are you calling a troublemaker? You're the one who couldn't control her powers!"

"Yeah, but the trouble I caused accidentally was far less than what you caused on purpose."

"Is this going to be a problem, Rumi-chan?" Mystia asked.

Rumia shook her head, then realized that it was too dark for her gesture to be seen and said, "Nope. I still have control over my body."

Kuroi corrected, "_My_ body! And we'll just see about that…" She unleashed a barrage of danmaku.

"…Unfortunately, while I can control my movements, all magic is strictly Kuroi's…since it's mostly hers anyway, even when she's sealed away. I'm only able to use a small portion of her power when she's sealed off, but even that is still greater than my own natural power was."

"…We're about to end up on the wrong end of an incident, aren't we?" Daiyousei asked.

"…Probably."

"An 'incident'?" Kuroi asked.

"It really would be so much easier if Chen were here right now," Daiyousei said. "At least then we'd have a _chance_ at getting this mess to someone who could resolve it relatively peacefully."

"Ah, yes, but _would_ she?" Yukari Yakumo was not, after all, someone who could be relied on for much of anything.

"How, exactly, did we not know that Rumia-chan had a far stronger youkai sealed inside of her?"

"It's…not really something I like to talk about. Kuroi's mean and I don't like having her around all the time."

"Well, that's one thing we can agree on. I don't like sharing a body with you either. You're a moron and being trapped inside of you is the most excruciating thing ever."

"See what I'm talking about? She's so mean!"

"Um…I have a question," Lily spoke up. "If we're expecting Reimu-san to show up soon now that there's an incident…and we figure that Kuro-kun's not going to go peacefully…why are we sticking around? As good a person as she may be, Reimu-san has a well-documented tendency to just start attacking everyone in her path when it comes time to resolve an incident."

"Because we don't abandon a friend in need," Cirno replied. "You're welcome to leave if you want, Lily-chan…but I'm staying."

"If you're staying, then I'm staying too. Besides, I can't see where I'm going, and I feel much safer with you."

Meanwhile, Kuroi was furiously trying to assert control over the body she shared with Rumia, attempting to fire at herself (which would be a futile gesture even if she could make it work—no one has ever been damaged by their own spells, and in this particular case it wouldn't even wear Rumia out because _she_ wasn't the one performing the magic). The others moved away from the raging youkai, who eventually got the bright idea to try to fire at _them_ instead—likewise with little success, as Rumia's physical control made it extremely difficult for Kuroi to aim properly. "It's a shame we can't work together…I like being able to see in the dark, and I feel so much more powerful now!"

"Heh…I'd gladly take that deal if we did things my way," Kuroi replied.

"And that's why we're not working together. You're evil, and I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You can fight it all you want, but you're still a youkai of darkness. It's in your nature."

"There are so many things about this situation that don't make sense," Wriggle complained.

"Like?" Mystia asked.

"How Rumia-chan still manages to control her body even as her magic is taken over by Kuroi-san…how both of them are able to speak, and how their voices are different from one another even though they share a body…"

"I _could_ leave this body any time I wanted to now that the seal's broken," Kuroi clarified, "but seeing as how the remaining body, whoever it originally belonged to, was destroyed after we were bound together, I'd have nowhere to go and no way to use my powers."

"Is that so? Well then I'm sure I could force you out…"

"But you won't—if you even can, which I doubt—because without me, you're nothing."

Rumia grumbled, but said nothing, signifying her agreement.

"Ouch…that was painful…I guess we lost."

"What? More people?"

"Oh, right, you three! I'd forgotten all about you!" Cirno said

"You _forgot_ about us?" Star cried out angrily. "So rude…well, anyway, sorry we wrecked your house, Cirno-chan. We should probably build you a new one. What do you think?" _"They won't agree to it. I know they won't."_

"Yeah, that's a good plan," Cirno said.

"I wasn't asking you! I was asking Luna-chan and Sunny-chan if they would agree with me." There was no reply. "Uh, Luna-chan? Sunny-chan? Darn it, I can't see a thing! How'd it get so dark?"

"You three accidentally broke Rumia-chan's amulet and unleashed her much more powerful and evil sister."

"…What. Wait, who?"

"The youkai in the darkness," Mystia said.

"…Oh no, this is bad…"

"You're damn right it's bad!" Cirno said.

"No, not that…well, that too; we're about harmless pranks, not serious destruction…but—"

"You destroyed my _house_! That's not a 'harmless prank'!" Cirno interrupted.

Star wasn't listening. "Darn it, Luna-chan, _wake up!_ I know you're not great in total darkness either, but I can't help both of you at once and I'm really worried about Sunny-chan!"

"Cirno-chan? It sounds like they're really in trouble," Daiyousei told her. "Since you were the one who was angry at them, I figure it's your decision. Do we help them?"

"Those three? …" Cirno thought about it for awhile. "I guess so. Besides, they owe me a new house. Mysti-chan, can you see well enough to help move Luna-san? You go help, Dai-san. Wriggle-chan, you lead the way to Sunny-san; she probably could use your light more. Lily-chan and I will come with you."

A sobbing Star Sapphire was trying to move Sunny all by herself. "Hey…need a hand? Ah, maybe one of us should have gone over to help Luna-san, if you're over here."

"You…you're helping me? Even though we destroyed your home?"

"Hey, you promised you'd build me a new one. I'm holding you three to that!"

"I'll make sure they both know that you helped save their lives. I didn't really expect them to agree to do it, but I'm sure _that_ will convince them to go along."

"Um, Lily-san?" Wriggle whispered, "Don't fairies just resurrect when they die?"

"Usually…but certain things can counter that ability. It's different for each fairy. For example, Cirno-chan is an ice fairy, so she could probably be killed permanently if her body was placed in a big fire after she died. I guess those two have darkness for a weakness as well. Oh, and you can call me Lily-chan."

"'As well?' Then…you…"

"I'm fine. It's a bit uncomfortable, but I can handle it. If I were hurt too badly during this status, though…"

"That would explain why you wanted to get away from Kuroi-san."

Lily nodded. "Darkness alone isn't a problem for me, but as a springtime fairy, a combination of darkness and extreme heat or cold is problematic for me."

"…Extreme cold is a problem for you?"

"Hahaha…I'll manage. Somehow."

"There's no end to this darkness! I don't know what to do!" Cirno cried out.

"Hmm…I've got it!" Wriggle cried out. "Mystia-chan, if you can still hear me, try to seek out someone with the power of the moon! As for us…we're going to have to do something counterintuitive."

"…Counter-_what?_"

"The opposite of what you'd think we'd have to do," Wriggle said. "Unfortunately, we'll probably have to take the long route…although showing up unannounced would probably be foolish anyway, so it's better that way."

"What are you talking about, Wriggle-chan?"

"I know—well, know _of_; I've never really spoken with her and maybe only even saw her once—a youkai with the power of the sun. I'm hoping maybe we can get her help."

"I hope you're right," Star said.

* * *

><p>CCX: Wow, this was longer than I expected—the longest chapter yet in this story—and yet I haven't actually resolved the Kuroi subplot yet, which I expected to wrap up in one chapter. So, yeah, I feel the need to point out again that the exact details of what happens when Rumia's ribbon-amulet is removed have never been canonically stated. I decided to have fun with it. As for the stuff about the fairies, okay, <em>that<em> was just me making stuff up, although the part about Cirno being able to be killed permanently with fire would certainly make sense. The decision to not have the three fairies curse at all was a conscious one, although I'm not really sure why. Also, LOL at this chapter coming out on Friday the 13th (it was actually started on the 11th, same day I posted the previous chapter.) "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew" © Eddie Morton, 1909.


	9. Chapter 9

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering

by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: Over 90% of these characters do not belong to me, as there is only one OC in this chapter.

CCX: Well, we've officially figured out when this story is taking place relative to the end of _The Scarlet Devil_—parts of this chapter are almost identical to parts of Chapter 18A of _The Scarlet Devil_, with the only changes being the result of that story being written in first-person perspective and this one being written in third-person perspective.

Chapter ❾

"Wriggle-chan! What a pleasant and unexpected surprise!"

"So this is what you meant by the opposite of what you'd expect," Cirno mused.

"Yeah. I wish I had time to just hang with you, Yama-chan, but I'm here because we've got a problem involving a lack of light outside and a few beings that need it to revive." Yamame started to protest that the Underworld wasn't exactly the best place to find light when Wriggle continued, "This particular one is powered by the sun."

"You're crazy. You actually want to go down _there?_"

"Want to? No, not particularly. But it's our best shot at a quick fix."

"You _do_ realize that fairies revive on their own, right?"

"I'm learning more about that. It's not really that simple after all, apparently."

"Oh. Well then I can't imagine your friend Cirno-chan would be terribly comfortable in the deepest parts of this place; far too much fire."

"I can…okay, fine, I'll sit this one out," she said, her indignation dissipating at a glare from Lily, who smiled when Cirno relented.

"Well, then…let's see what we can do."

* * *

><p>Mystia and Daiyousei had managed to stumble back towards the team's base of operations, Luna Child in tow. "Darn, I was hoping that Chen would've returned by now," Daiyousei said.<p>

"We'll just have to keep moving on, I guess," Mystia replied. "Although I don't think anyone there actually _has_ the power of the moon itself, it's still our best bet."

"I hope you're right…"

* * *

><p>"Somehow, I don't think…we're going to be able to resolve this so easily."<p>

"Oh?"

"Sakuya-san, I don't suppose _you_ have any ways of seeing through this darkness."

"No, Reimu-san. I don't think even La—Remilia-san could see in darkness this absolute. Although she'd probably have other ways of navigating it…"

"Yeah, she could just turn into a bat, right?" Reimu asked. "What…what happened? Between you two…no, never mind. Forget it; it's not something you want to talk about, is it?"

"I'm glad you understand, Reimu-san."

Suddenly, Ran and Chen appeared before them, the former bathed in light. "Oh, good, we're in the right place…hmm? Sakuya-san, I wasn't told that you'd be here too."

"Ran-san…what's with the light show?" Reimu asked.

"Yukari-sama sent us to help you…as usual, she isn't going to do anything herself, but she did imbue me with some extra power to allow me to light the way as well."

"Did Yukari-sama tell you what's causing this?" Sakuya asked.

"No; if she knows, she's not saying."

"I think _I_ know…or at least, I have an idea," Chen added.

"…Really?"

"Well, I don't think any of the others noticed, but it looks like Rumia-chan's hair ribbon is actually a seal, and either she can't even touch it or she doesn't want to. I don't know what's sealed in there, but it's probably something really bad!"

"Huh," Reimu said, "I never would have guessed that, but this darkness _does_ seem like a far stronger version of her ability. That's very observant of you, Chen."

* * *

><p>"Incoming!" A bucket flew at the group that Yamame was leading deeper into the Underworld.<p>

They easily dodged it. "Kisume-tan, enough with the shenanigans!" the spider yelled at the bucket. A giant purple umbrella emerged from the opening extremely suddenly and stuck out an equally giant tongue, startling all of them.

"Haha, it worked! It really worked!"

"Told ya it would!" Kisume replied, and the two teal-haired youkai laughed.

"What…what is this? How did you even manage to fit two youkai _in_ that bucket, much less that huge umbrella?"

"_Very_ carefully," Kisume replied.

"You…know this youkai?" Wriggle asked.

"The little one, yes. I have no idea where this other one came from."

"Oh, nowhere in particular," she replied.

"Haha, you're so funny, Kogasa-chan," Kisume said.

"You're quite the prankster yourself, Kisume-chan."

"Okay, get a room, you two. Or at least a bigger bucket," Yamame said, stuffing them back into the bucket and tossing them out of their path.

* * *

><p>CCX: I was debating whether or not to make Kisume and Kogasa a couple or just friends when I came up with this idea. I eventually decided on the former, which brings the number of couples to 17 (if you include YukariAya, which I'm not entirely sure I do.) Of those 17, only one has yet to appear in either _The Scarlet Devil_ or _The Adventures of Team 9 Catering_…and that's about to change, _fast._

* * *

><p>"I don't believe there's anything I can do to help speed up the regeneration process…but fairies aren't supposed to stay dead," Eirin Yagokoro told Mystia and Daiyousei, looking at the prone form of Luna Child.<p>

"It's the unnatural darkness," Daiyousei explained, "fairies can't regenerate if consistently exposed to their weakness."

"Since Luna-chan's powers are moon-based, I was hoping that _someone_ at the House of Eternity could do something," Mystia added.

"Well, I suppose perhaps Reisen-chan could give it a shot…we have artificial lights in here, but they don't seem to be having an effect. If Reisen manipulated the wavelength, though…" Eirin took a deep breath and called out, "REISEN!"

A shuffling behind a locked door and some mumbled words, and a very disheveled-looking bunny poked her head out. "Y-yes, Eirin-sama?"

"Reisen-chan, get out here."

"Uh, yes, Eirin-sama…" She ducked her head back into the room. "Tewi-chan, Eirin-sama needs me, which means I need you to _give me back my panties!"_

"No way. If you have to go, I suppose I can give you this," she threw the half-naked bunny's skirt back at her, "but you're going to have to come back later."

Reisen sighed. There were often times that she doubted if Tewi's finer points were worth the headache of having to put up with her mischievous, screwball behavior. She considered the irony of the fact that she herself was a "lunatic rabbit", yet by the traditional definition of the word, Tewi was far more of a lunatic. Trying to walk very carefully and deliberately, while constantly on edge at the possibility that the smaller rabbit would show up and try to flip her skirt, she eased out of the room. "Were you having fun in there?" Eirin asked reproachfully.

"I-I fail to see how that's relevant!" Reisen cried out.

"Well, whatever. I was wondering if you could manipulate the wavelengths of our lights in order to simulate moonlight. These two have shown up with a moonlight fairy who is apparently in dire straits."

"I-I'll try my best, Eirin-sama!" She activated her Lunatic Eyes.

* * *

><p>"So, it looks like the 'incident-solvers' are here. Decision time, imōto: are you going to make things difficult for me, or are we going to cooperate?" Kuroi asked.<p>

"Uh…I don't really like you, but…I don't want to get blown up!" replied Rumia, running away from the band of powerful youkai.

"Good…wait, why are you running away?"

"They're running! After them!" Reimu said.

"Ah! Kuroi-chan, you idiot!" Rumia yelled. "We're going to have to shut up if we want to hide in the darkness!"

"_Okay, I'll shut up—even if I didn't give you permission to refer to me so familiarly. But you didn't answer me. Why are we running away?"_

"_Sorry, onee_-san_. I'll be more polite—even if I was hoping that we could actually be somewhat friendly when I said that. But there's a big difference between taking on the shrine maidens and taking on Ran-sama and Chen. I don't think even _you_ could handle them in a fair fight. I was thinking that since I can control our body, you could just put your all into shooting them…"_

"_But if you really want to hide, we can't do that. We'd give away our position."_

"_Not with a spell card, we wouldn't."_

"_That's…a damn good idea. You're not so bad, Rumia-chan!"_

"_Heh-heh…thanks."_

* * *

><p>CCX: My, this chapter is getting long…normally I'd end this chapter here and finish up the Kuroi subplot next chapter, but I've set it up such that I couldn't publish this chapter before the Final Chapter of <em>The Scarlet Devil<em>…both versions. Oh, and Rumia is making another reference to power levels; Kuroi's power level is approximately that of a Stage 6 Boss.

* * *

><p>"Hmm? Odd to see you down here, Yamame. Ah, I see…you were hoping Okuu could use her power over the sun to help revive this fairy? Well, I'm sorry, but she won't be using her power at the moment. Her girlfriend is over for a visit," Satori said. After a brief pause in which Suika Ibuki informed the group that Reimu and Sanae were engaged, she added, "No, it's not about interrupting; neither of them even sees their relationship that way yet, though their feelings betray it. But Flandre is very sensitive to sunlight, and what's more her sister is here as well on this particular occasion."<p>

"Flandre…Scarlet? Seriously?" Wriggle asked.

"Who is that?" Star asked.

"The Scarlet Sisters are these two powerful vampires," Wriggle told her, "absolutely vicious."

"That's right. And I happen to be in a particularly bad mood today, so you'd better let my sister have her playdate in peace!" snapped the elder of the two sisters, Remilia.

"How long have you been down here, then, Remilia-sama?" Yamame asked. "Because I would have thought that conditions such as these would be quite enjoyable to a vampire such as yourself—assuming you know to what I'm referring."

"The mysterious darkness. Not a bad thing, but it's obviously unnatural, which means the miko will fix it before long. This little oni informed me that she and her new fiancée are already on their way to do that." Wriggle and Star felt it best not to mention how that incident got started.

"Well, we can wait. It's not like Sunny-chan will get better on her own if we don't," Star said.

"And if Reimu-san and Sanae-san take care of Ku—the darkness before that happens, the quickest way back to the surface is through the Underground Geyser Center," added Wriggle.

"Huh...it sounds like you actually know what's causing this darkness," Remilia said. "Well, since it will probably be nighttime for real soon...I think I'm up for a bit of thunder-stealing. Anyone else want to come?" Nobody responded at first. "Okay, then, forget I said anything. You said there's a shortcut to the surface?"

"I'll come along," Orin said, "and show you the way."

"Count me in, I guess," Wriggle said, "Star-chan, you should stay here with Sunny-chan." _"Cirno's going to be so pissed, though, since she's staying behind."_

"You're not going out there without me!" Yamame added.

"I'm coming too! …I guess," Suika said. The motley crew setting out to resolve an incident.

* * *

><p>Cirno was decidedly <em>not<em> pissed. She and Lily were taking this opportunity to get to know each other better. "Mmm…Lily-chan, you're a really good kisser."

"Heheh, you're not so bad yourself, Cirno-chan."

…No, "getting to know each other better" was _not_ a euphemism, for the most part, although they certainly were getting to know the insides of each other's mouths better as well. It's just that that type of small talk generally doesn't make for interesting reading, and this is mostly only in here in order to make this section longer.

Over at the House of Eternity, Luna Child was groggy, but alive. "Where am I?"

"You're at the House of Eternity," Eirin said. "These two brought you here to get you better. They're certainly caring friends." She motioned to Daiyousei and Mystia. Reisen had already gone back to Tewi, not wanting to stay out in the open while commando any longer than she had to.

"F-Friends? No, that's not right…we were fighting!"

"Yeah, you three lost that fight when you blew up Rumia-chan's amulet," Mystia said. "You and your friend Sunny both stayed down far longer than any fairy has any right to, and Star-chan and Cirno-chan made up. Cirno-chan decided that we should help you two."

"And Sunny-chan and Star-chan?"

"Star-chan went with the rest of our group to help Sunny-chan."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, believe this; you wouldn't have revived on your own any time soon," said another of the residents of the House of Eternity, Fujiwara no Mokou. "Look out there."

"It's…so black…yes, this would have been very bad."

"It sounds like the two of you know what started this. Care to help put an end to it?"

"You're planning to try to stop this?" Daiyousei asked.

"Yeah," Mokou replied. "Kaguya wants this cleared up, so she's commissioned a bunch of the rabbits to take orders from me; we're going to clear up this mess."

* * *

><p>CCX: Okay, I couldn't hold off any longer. I took the original recommendation to read chapter 18A of <em>The Scarlet Devil<em> before reading this chapter out of the opening note, because this chapter pretty much has to be terminated here. We've now got _three_ teams going after Kuroi-chan and Rumia-chan, and all things considered, I'm not so sure that this is going to end the way I originally thought it would. Enjoy the update, and hopefully I'll get that three-headed update finished tomorrow. Ja ne!


	10. Chapter 10

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering

by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: Very little belongs to me.

Chapter ❿

"Illusion World |The World|!" The time-stopping attack stopped the Yagami twins in their tracks, but the maid was unable to find them in the darkness and was forced to allow time to restart. _"What was that?" _Kuroi asked.

"_She has power over time,"_ Rumia told her.

"_Whoa. That's definitely dangerous. What happened here? There weren't so many powerful youkai here when I was sealed away."_

"_Uh…that's a human. At least, she hasn't been confirmed not to be. Nobody really thinks that she's a normal human, though."_

"…_You're kidding."_

"So, you're the one responsible for this, eh? Well, personally I like the darkness, but someone's going to end up resolving this incident, so it might as well be me. _Scarlet_ _Sign |Red the Nightless Castle|!_"

"Damnit, another one? And this one can see in the dark," Kuroi cried.

"Hey, Rumia-chan! Whatever happened to just waiting around for Reimu-san to take care of the incident?" Wriggle called out.

"I never agreed to that! Neesan and I are getting along much better now!"

"Don't push it, Rumia-chan," Kuroi deadpanned.

Sakuya struck again. "Illusion Sign |Killing Doll|!" The knives sank into both Kuroi/Rumia and Remilia.

"Ah! Sakuya, watch where you're throwing those knives! …Oh, wait, I get it; you hit me on purpose, didn't you?"

"I can't see very well in this darkness. I merely attacked the source of the sound. I _did_ hit the darkness youkai as well, didn't I?"

"_Um…I don't know why they're fighting with each other, but this might be our chance to get away," _Rumia told her sister.

"_Okay, go for it, but once we get a short distance away, I want to give them something else to deal with."_

"_Sounds good. Just regular danmaku, or a Spell Card?"_

"_Spell Card. I was thinking maybe Midnight Oil."_

"_Good idea."_

"Hmm…I guess I deserved that," Remilia said. "And yeah, you did well—that's how I know that it _wasn't_ a mistake. No one else got hit besides her and me. Of course, now that your attention is on me, she's getting away."

"But not without a parting gift," Kuroi told them, "Darkness Sign |Midnight Oil|!" The effect was not entirely unlike that of a solar eclipse—a large black orb ringed by a fiery corona. Well, okay, more like numerous small black orbs, but that's beside the point.

"Don't be foolish, Sakuya-chan!" Remilia cried out. Then she noticed the others and said, "Good; you're not so stupid as to try to take this on all by yourself."

"What, were you worried about me?"

"Hmm…maybe."

"Suika-chan, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be preparing the celebration?" Reimu asked.

"I am!" she replied. "But I'm also spreading your big news!"

"Hey, there's no time for chatter," Ran said, "she's getting away again!"

She wasn't for long. "Forgiveness |Honest Man's Death|!"

"_What? But _she_ shouldn't be able to see us!" _Rumia said. _"Wha-what is that?"_

"Okay, how _did_ you manage to aim that so perfectly?" Mystia asked. "I can barely see through this, and I'm a night sparrow."

"Kaguya-chan has an interest in foreign technology. Even though she doesn't really leave the mansion herself, she's probably Kourindou's top customer by way of proxy. This is one of the many devices she's picked up along the way; it amplifies light to allow for vision in low-light conditions, though it has the drawback of causing higher levels of light to become blinding. I had to shut it off when I fired off my spell card."

"Ah, so _that's_ why you kept firing off danmaku a single bullet at a time while we were moving."

"Yeah. That, and the rabbits wouldn't be able to follow me if I didn't."

"You're all really starting to annoy me!" Kuroi shouted. "Darkness Sign |Suffocating Abyss|!"

This spell card was of the "giant, takes up over half the screen" variety rather than the "pattern of bullets" variety. It also easily cleared away Mokou's spell card. However, the others, minus Remilia and Sakuya, soon caught up from behind. "Shikigami |Banquet of 12 General Gods|!"

"Wriggle-chan? What are you doing here?" Mystia asked.

"Ah, Mystia-chan?" Wriggle flew closer. "Mystia-chan, it _is_ you! And you managed to heal Luna-chan…Star-chan is waiting back in the Nuclear Furnace with Sunny-chan; last I knew, Sunny-chan was still down."

"Ah! Show me the way!" Luna demanded.

"Just…follow those two."

"Who? I can't see anything."

Wriggle brought her over. "Sakuya-san, you two are headed back to the Nuclear Furnace, right? Could you take Luna-chan with you?"

"Sure, no problem," she replied. That taken care of, Wriggle returned to the battle.

"Wait…where are Cirno-chan and Lily-chan?" Daiyousei asked.

"Do you really want Cirno-chan going to the deepest part of the Underworld?" Wriggle asked. "It's rather fiery."

"Oh. Good point."

"So what do we do now?" Rumia asked.

"'We?' Heh…I guess it's time to admit defeat."

"Aww…I was actually starting to like you."

"Why do you think I'm admitting defeat _now_ instead of fighting to the end? I want to finish this with some dignity. I have one condition upon which I'll agree to end this peacefully. I want my own body."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Reimu said.

"Y-You're leaving me?" Rumia started to cry, but Kuroi stopped her.

"I just want to make it up to my little sister for all of these years sitting inside her head needling her about what a sad excuse for a darkness youkai she was. We're more alike than I thought. In fact, if it will make you more comfortable—actually, even if it won't—I wouldn't mind giving some of my power to her permanently, if that's at all possible. At least enough for her to be able to see through her own darkness."

"You have to admit, this _is_ how your incidents usually end," Ran said. "The antagonist agrees to stop causing trouble, and you all have a tea party."

"Yeah, that's a good point. Although, I've got something much bigger than just a tea party this time. It sounds like all of you—" she addressed the other members of Team 9 as well—"are doing quite well with your business, and while I would like you to take care of the food for my wedding, I won't be needing you to serve as waitstaff like at Marisa-chan's wedding. You're all invited as guests, all six—_seven_ of you," she corrected.

"Are we allowed to bring dates?" Wriggle asked.

"Right, of course. Ran-sama would have been invited anyway, but yes, there's room for two more,"

"Three more."

"_Three_ more?" She turned to Daiyousei, who confirmed it. "Okay, _three_ more. So that's a table right there, even if Chen is at Yukari-sama's table."

"Huh? The darkness is receding…looks like we're too late!" Marisa Kirisame cried out.

"Well, when you're flying around shooting off Master Sparks every twenty seconds and beating up every youkai you see, you're going to miss the real action!" chided her wife, Alice.

"I couldn't help it! It was dark; I needed something to light the way!"

"So you chose to use giant energy beams?"

"Actually, you have perfect timing. Kuroi-san, this is the Seven-Colored Puppeteer, Alice Kirisame. If anyone can make you a new body, it's her."

"_Make?_ So my new body is going to be artificial?"

"Well, _yeah_; we can't have you possessing someone, can we?"

"I guess not. Besides, this way I can get a new body that looks just like my old body."

"And what does your original body look like?" Alice asked.

"Exactly like the body I'm in now. We're identical twins." She dissipated her aura of darkness completely so as to show off her body.

"…Rumia-chan?" Marisa asked.

"Yes?" Rumia replied.

"…Okay, I'm confused."

"Long story short, it turns out that hair-ribbon amulet was sealing away Rumia-chan's twin sister Kuroi," Reimu told her.

"Well, we should go now; the sooner I can get to work on your body, the better."

"…Can't you just come get me when it's ready?"

"Nonsense. You're going to model for it, aren't you?"

"Am I going to have to be nude?"

"…Yes."

"Okay, cool."

"Wha-wha-whaddya mean, 'cool'? This is still my body, you know!"

_Make her a member of the Midnight Crew!_

* * *

><p>CCX: So, what was originally supposed to be a one-chapter gag became a three-chapter extravaganza that also encompassed the end of <em>The Scarlet Devil<em>, and rather than disappearing back into Rumia as originally planned, Kuroi became a permanent member of Team 9. I think I may have accidentally foreshadowed this in their first appearance in this saga, when I mentioned that ironically, Rumia filled the "Big Guy" role in the Five Man Band despite being one of two Stage 1 bosses as opposed to the three Stage 2 bosses. Well, Kuroi's a Stage 6 (although after willingly giving up some of her power, she's kind of in between a Stage 5 and a Stage 6 in power level.) That's much stronger than anything else the group has.

Unfortunately, I kind of vowed back in _The Scarlet Devil_ that the only OCs I was going to make would be NPC-level, and I kind of shattered that idea. It actually is a little ironic, seeing as how the chapter that this plot started in was intentionally chosen to reference KimikoMuffin's "Team ❽", and Kuroi's story is in many ways a parallel to Yasora's. Funny how that happens. Chapter ⑪ won't start until I've put the finishing touches on _The Scarlet Devil_, though, so it might be a little bit of a wait. Ja ne!


	11. Chapter 11

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: All characters except for Kuroi are property of ZUN.

Chapter ⑪

"Onee-sama, what are you doing?" Rumia asked.

"What, you've never considered taking advantage of your darkness to go out in the nude?" Kuroi replied. "No, I don't suppose _you_ would have, seeing as how you never could make it pitch-black before."

"That's beside the point! You can't just wear nothing!"

"Sure I can. I can even make 'clothing' _out of_ the darkness." She reduced the size of her aura of darkness so that it clung to her body, looking very much like a sleeveless button-up blouse, miniskirt, thigh-high stockings, ankle boots, and a hair ribbon, all of them pitch black.

To Rumia, however, it didn't look like anything at all. "I can't even look at you right now. Now that I can see through my own darkness, I can't _not_ see through yours as well."

"And the sight of my naked body embarrasses you?" Kuroi teased.

"No! Well…yes! It's…it still looks like my body, only, you know…sexier." Kuroi smiled at this. "Why'd you get to have curves, anyway?"

"I told you; my body won't grow on its own, so I wanted one that can accurately represent me for a while. It's not really _that _much, anyway; you'll probably catch up to me within a few years, and by the time a decade passes, _I'll_ probably need a new body just to keep up with _you_."

"If you say so…I'm still not looking at you."

They were the last to arrive at work. "Good to have you back, Rumia-chan," Mystia said, "and welcome aboard, Kuroi-chan. You're looking good. We're going to have to get you out in the field."

"I'm not looking at her," Rumia said.

"Are you two fighting again?" Cirno asked.

"No, I just can't look at her."

"Why not?" Wriggle asked.

"Because this," Rumia replied, reaching just past her sister's leg and, to the eyes of the other members of Team 9, straight _through_ her skirt.

Nobody said anything at first as they comprehended this, and then Wriggle replied, "She's not actually wearing anything at all, is she?" Rumia shook her head. "Yeah, and now that you can see right through magical darkness…I get it now."

"Hmm, this is even more useful than I thought," Mystia said. "You could really help drum up a lot of business like that."

"Mystia!" Rumia shouted, as Kuroi just grinned.

Mystia continued, "Is it just limited to around your own body, or could you make clothes for me like that as well?"

This time Cirno and Wriggle joined Rumia. "MYSTIA!"

"What? I was just asking! Although if I had that ability, I'd probably enhance myself a little more than that."

"Enh—THESE ARE REAL, DAMNIT!" she cried, "unbuttoning" her simulacrum of a blouse most of the way to show Mystia. "…Well, as real as the rest of me, anyway."

"Yeah, her body's a bit more developed than mine," Rumia confirmed. "But she'll need a new body every time she wants to 'grow up', so it won't always be that way."

"Well, that's probably even better, then. You just keep looking hot and bringing in the customers."

"We run a catering business," Wriggle deadpanned.

"So? It doesn't matter what business you're in; sexiness sells."

"_Maybe I would have been better off just letting her get sealed away again," _Rumia thought.

"Actually, we've got a job that should be perfect for the Yagami sisters," Wriggle said. "My networking in the Underworld seems to have paid off; we got a request from that Kreutzschif guy."

"Kroy-_what?_" Mystia asked.

"Someone I met at the surprise party for Parsee-san. And yeah, that surname sounds pretty weird to me, too. Still, even in a naturally dark place like the Underworld, Kuroi-san will probably be a real hit."

"Naturally dark?" Kuroi asked. "And here I thought the Underworld was all fire and brimstone."

"The deeper parts are," Wriggle said, "but there's a lot of stuff before that that's more like a cave."

"Huh. I guess I still have a lot to learn about this world."

"You weren't native to Gensokyo?"

"I don't think so. If we were, it was a lot different back then. Do you remember, Rumia-chan?"

"I was never much for seeing the world around me, Kuroi-san," Rumia giggled.

"Ha ha, right, my mistake."

"_Well, they seem to be getting along much better,_" Daiyousei thought. Just then Kuroi got a mischievous look in her eye.

"W-Waugh! Kuroi-_san!_"

"Come on, im_ō_to, if you're coming with me, you're going to have to look the part as well," she said, stripping her sister, who was struggling to remain clothed.

"B-but I—"

"No buts. You need to practice your control anyway. Hurry up and at least do _something_; your friends are going to see you naked if you keep your aura suppressed. You don't want _that_, do you?" Rumia quickly enveloped herself and Kuroi in darkness. "Well, at least you can do that much. Now let's see about refining it into something like what I've got going on."

"Did you even remember to 'button up' your 'blouse' again?" Rumia cried.

"I'll take care of it before we go out," she replied, as she had indeed forgotten.

"Were you _always_ like this?"

"Like what?"

"You know, so…anti-clothing."

"I never was a big fan, but of course it's not such a great idea when you're in an area with a lot of darkness youkai."

"And yet you don't mind doing it around me."

"You're my _twin sister!_ We _shared a body_ for close to half a century! I don't really feel as though I need to be self-conscious around you."

Rumia couldn't help but blush. "Y-you really mean that?"

Kuroi saw her reaction and couldn't help but blush as well. "W-well, yeah, of course…Wah!" Rumia suddenly threw her arms around her sister, kissing her on the cheek. "Ha…looks like you've gotten over that whole nudity thing."

"That what, now?"

"Right…let's focus on getting you 'dressed' in darkness," she said. Rumia quickly complied. Being a bit more modest than her twin sister, Rumia's outfit was not very revealing. "Uh, Rumia-chan? You might want to try something simpler. You're going to get tired awfully quickly if you try to maintain such a fancy dress."

Rumia looked down at the frilly dress she'd dreamed up. "Guess I got a bit carried away…"

"Just…go a simple dress. You don't even have to bother with sleeves if you don't want…oh who am I kidding, of _course_ you'll want them, because you're not comfortable with the idea of dressing sexy."

"Well, I can't really measure up with you, so…" There. A simple black dress, short-sleeved, along with tights and Mary Janes. "I'd rather be 'cute' than 'sexy' right now."

"Hmm…well, then, I think there's something you're missing, something that fake clothes won't be able to do."

"Uh…? Hey, what are you doing?"

"Just stay still. There, finished."

"I don't like it. My hair's too short to put in pigtails."

"Nonsense; you look adorable. Doesn't she look adorable?" Kuroi had failed to notice that the others had left, apparently wanting to give the sisters some time alone. She sought them out. "Doesn't Rumi-tan look adorable?"

"Eh, I don't think the ribbons really work," Mystia replied, taking them out.

"Told you so," Rumia said.

"Whatever. It's not like I know much from fashion; the last time I had a body, it was barely a meter tall. But I still think you'd look cute with pigtails if you grew your hair out."

"How old _were_ you when you were sealed away?" Mystia asked.

"Well, that was almost half a century ago, so I guess…about 40, maybe?"

"So that means you're in your late eighties now?" Kuroi nodded. "I guess your species ages more slowly than mine, then. I'm not even seventy."

"Really? Huh."

* * *

><p>"I noticed you flirting a lot," Rumia said. "Any of them actually interest you?"<p>

"Nah, I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. I just want to spend some quality time with my sister that doesn't involve me being inside her head yelling at her."

"Really? That's...so...swee..." Rumia passed out, her aura of darkness reverting to its usual spherical shape.

Kuroi sighed. "What did I tell you? At least this way you made it long enough to get through our event." She picked up her sister and carried her back to the team's base of operations, letting her own aura revert to a sphere.

"...Eh? What happened?" Mystia cried.

"Rumi-tan used up all of her energy. Don't worry, Mystia-san; we were already on our way back when it happened," Kuroi replied. "I figured she probably wouldn't be able to manipulate her darkness for that long."

Mystia was a tad surprised—not all that long ago, Kuroi was far too haughty to use the "-san" honorific, and they now knew that Mystia was some twenty years her junior. "Yeah...just let her rest, I guess..."

_"Probably should dress her, too._.._" _Kuroi thought to herself, and did so.

* * *

><p>CCX: Oh, dear, I'm making stuff up again. Exactly how quickly youkai age is not really stated, and it's probably different for different youkai. I originally had Kuroi's statement as "the better part of a century," but then I decided that having Rumia <em>already<em> over a century old probably wasn't a great idea, and so now I figure that one century is more or less the age of maturity for her species—hence why Kuroi said that Rumia should be catching up in no time and would easily pass her within a decade. (As Mystia's comments implied, Kuroi's current body appears to be pubescent but nowhere near fully grown.)

But seriously…what _was_ that? And how do I justify leaving the rating at K+? Quite simply: I go by the "TV rule". If it could be put on television at PG, it can go in a fanfic at K+. And since Rumia and Kuroi were always covered in darkness, it wouldn't have set off the censors. Hey, if naked transformation sequences where the protagonists' bodies seem to turn into light can get in at PG/Y7, why not this? (Thanks for that, Digimon Tamers! I'd thank Sailor Moon, but there were so many aspects of that show that _were_ changed for the dub that I'd rather thank a show that managed to get by the censors relatively unscathed instead.)

Of course, this chapter also went in a direction that could very well necessitate a future rating shift anyway. Luckily, just because _The Scarlet Devil_ is more or less over doesn't mean I plan on slapping a "Complete" tag on _Phantasm_ just yet—_The Adventures of Team 9 Catering_ **is**, after all, a spinoff of _TSD_, and as such I feel justified in using _Phantasm_ for any "extended" chapters of this fic as well. (I'm probably going to go back and extend Chapter 3 eventually.) Ja ne!


	12. Chapter 12

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: All characters except Kuroi are property of ZUN.

CCX: Well, it definitely looks like I'm still good with the current rating. Also, _The Scarlet Devil _Chapter 18B is up over on deviantart! (Also, stealth edit to Chapter ⑪.)

Chapter ⑫

"So why exactly did you push so hard for me to wear real clothes?" Kuroi asked. She had her aura of darkness set to its normal shape, obscuring her from view. Rumia did too, though this was just to conserve energy. "If this is going to be a regular theme, I'm going to have to get a new wardrobe. The clothes Alice-san provided me with my body are…not really my style."

"Well, I think you should regardless, because you're limiting yourself to just black and as great as black is, you need a little color once in awhile as well. But we're helping Cirno-chan move into her new house today, and it's probably going to be rather cold."

"Oh, right, the annoying ice fairy."

"Cirno-chan's not annoying! She's nice!"

"She _is_ kind of bossy; you have to admit that."

"Well, yeah, but so is Mystia-chan. And so are you."

"You still think of me as bossy?"

"Not nearly as much as when you were stuck inside my head, but yes, you're still a bit demanding."

"…Fair enough."

Mystia and Daiyousei were the only ones there when they arrived. "Saving your designs for when you're on the clock, eh, Kuroi-chan?" Mystia teased.

Kuroi sighed, but couldn't help but chuckle as well. "Actually, Rumi-tan convinced me to get dressed for once, but since the only clothes I have are the ones the dollmaker gave me when she made my body…"

"Hmm. Yeah, your fashion choices don't seem to match up with her style very well." Cirno and Lily arrived soon afterwards. "Cirno-chan! Late to your own groundbreaking!" Mystia chided.

"Whaddya mean, 'late'? This thing doesn't start until everyone's here!"

"Yeah, but you really _should_ be the first one here, since you're the host. Chen already told me that she won't be able to make it today, so Wriggle-chan's the only one missing."

"Hey, Cirno-chan?" Lily asked, "Why are there two Rumia-chans?"

"What? You mean I didn't tell you?" Unlike the rest of Team 9, Cirno had not actually been present for the conclusion of the Sprawling Darkness Incident, and Lily was with Cirno at the time. "Kuroi-chan agreed to behave, and now she has her own body and is part of our group."

"So it ended just like every other incident." Lily thought for a moment. "But then what about the Extra Stage Boss?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, the even more powerful enemy that shows up after the incident has been resolved with some sort of relationship to the instigator?"

"…You're being very silly, Lily-chan."

Lily pouted. "I'm not making this up!"

Just then, Wriggle arrived, wearing a pink sweater, a long, Air Force blue**(1)** skirt with matching scarf and hat, and boots. "Sorry I'm late! As soon as Yamame-chan heard that I would be going to Cirno-chan's new home today, she went out and slaughtered a pair of sheep for me. She also wanted me to bring the rest of you by later because she thinks she has enough skin left over to make boots for all of you, but not too early because she stayed up half the night making this outfit for me and she really needs to sleep. Well, the part about 'not too early' wasn't in the note she left me, but the fact that she left a note at all was telling enough, because usually she'd want to be awake to see me off."

Everyone just stared at Wriggle. "You're…kidding, right?" Mystia asked.

"Nope. Yama-chan really gets passionate about designing clothes. Although I think she takes even more pleasure in dressing me up in them."

"She…actually went out and slaughtered sheep?"

"Yes. Yes she did."

"So, she makes her own clothes?" Kuroi asked. "Hmm…that's good to know."

"That's right! You were saying that you wanted a new wardrobe, right?" Rumia replied.

"Hmm, well, I'm sure Yama-chan will be thrilled to have someone else to dress up," Wriggle said, "although I'm not sure if she'll work for free. She makes lots of stuff for _me_ free of charge, but then again I probably more than pay her back in other ways."

"Ha ha, yeah…"

They entered the house, the three mischievous fairies showing the way. It was in large part made of ice. Cirno flew off, heading for another room (which appeared to be a kitchen), only to smash headlong into a barrier. "What? What is this?" she cried, rubbing her head.

The three fairies laughed, and Sunny revealed the illusion: the room that Cirno was trying to enter was not actually connected to the one she was currently in, and Sunny had given a door-shaped section of the icy wall the refractive index of air, rendering it essentially invisible. "And here I thought you built it out of ice just to be nice to me," Cirno said.

"I promise, that's the only fake door," Luna said, "all of the other openings are real. I can't guarantee that there aren't a few other pranks waiting for you, though."

Cirno sighed. "The three of you really can't help but play pranks on people, can you?" All three shook their heads, and Cirno didn't even flinch when she opened one of the cabinets in the kitchen and found all of the spare building material (that is, chunks of ice) raining down upon her head. "Stupid fairies."

"Hey! You're a fairy too, remember!" Sunny pointed out.

"I didn't say _all_ fairies were stupid," Cirno retorted, "just you three."

They finished their tour and started to move Cirno's things into the new house, although they were all a bit suspicious when the fairy trio offered to help out, expecting more pranks. They soon found that there _had_ been one more prank waiting within the house when Lily tried to put a mirror up on the wall in Cirno's bedroom and found herself falling right through; Star was right there to help catch the mirror, preventing it from breaking. "What gives?" Cirno demanded, as Sunny dispelled the illusion. "I thought you said there were no more fake doors!"

"I did," Luna said. "That was a fake wall."

Cirno facepalmed. "You're really starting to get on my nerves."

"That was the last one, I swear," Star told her. "And now that all of our pranks are finished, we'll be leaving."

* * *

><p>"Well, Yamame-chan should be awake by now," Wriggle said when they were finished at Cirno's house.<p>

"Do you mind if I bring Lily-chan back to her home?" Cirno asked. "I think all of this time in my cold house has tired her out."

"Yeah, and I need to change into something less…ugly," Kuroi said.

"By which you mean something you made out of shadows," Rumia said.

"No! Well, not completely…there was _one_ dress in that wardrobe that is okay, if a bit plain."

"The blue one?"

"Yeah, that one."

"You can always make it more interesting, right?"

"That was the plan." They set off.

"Er…was there a reason that Rumia-chan had to go with Kuroi-chan?" Mystia asked.

"Is there a reason why she _shouldn't_ have?" Daiyousei replied.

"Point taken."

They reconvened and entered. "Ah, good, you're all here," Yamame said, seeing as how Chen had managed to get free as well. "I wanted to make sure I could measure properly."

"Well, you might need a few more measurements," Wriggle replied. "Kuroi-san doesn't have much in the way of clothing right now, and most of what she has was provided by Alice-san, whose sense of style doesn't match hers at all."

"Do you need me to undress? Because I don't mind at all," she said, dispelling everything that wasn't made of physical textiles.

Yamame sweatdropped. "That's, uh, that's not necessary, Kuroi-san," she said, as Rumia sighed. _"Why must you be such an exhibitionist, oneechan?"_

"Okay then. Take whatever measurements you need."

"Will do. Also, since you obviously have your own style, perhaps you could give me some input as to what you're looking for?"

As the group was preparing to go, Rumia pulled her sister aside and went back to Yamame. "Um, Yamame-san…there's one other thing I need to ask you to do for both of us." Although Yamame didn't see it, Kuroi realized that inside her sphere of darkness, Rumia had gotten undressed. Kuroi was then surprised to find that _she_ was the one being stripped by her sister, and she instinctively expanded a sphere of darkness to cover herself from neck to mid-thigh as her dress was removed, even though she was still within Rumia's sphere at the time. Rumia then focused her darkness into the shape of an elegant gown and pantyhose. Kuroi was impressed that Rumia had managed to simulate a semitransparent garment such as the latter. "We're both going to need something to wear for Reimu-san and Sanae-san's wedding," she explained. "Oneechan, you should show her what you want, too."

"Wh-why can't I just make it out of darkness for the actual event?" Kuroi asked. "Yamame-san already said she wasn't doing this for free, and I don't have a lot of money yet!"

"Not reliable enough. You know what happens to our powers during the new moon. I'll pay for it if you need me to."

"I thought that was only the night of the new moon! Isn't this going to be in the daytime?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"O-okay…" She turned away from Rumia, who didn't notice because she had her back to her sister to begin with, and focused on making herself look as beautiful as possible. It ended up looking awfully similar to Rumia's, a fact which Yamame pointed out. Kuroi tried a bit harder and managed to make it a bit more her own, and Yamame took the measurements. The duo then got dressed and set off as the spider youkai got to work.

"Hey, where'd you two get off to?" Mystia asked.

"I just had another favor to ask of Yamame-san," Rumia replied, and Mystia couldn't help but notice that _Kuroi_ was blushing. "Something to make for the two of us."

"Yeah, about that…I'm not going to make you pay for mine," Kuroi said.

"But onee—"

"No buts. I'll pay my own way if I have to have Mystia-san give my salary directly to Yamame-san for the next two months."

"No. Let me do this for you, oneechan."

"But I—"

"No buts," Rumia threw Kuroi's words back at her, "You keep saying you want to 'make it up to me', but you've more than repaid that 'debt' already. I have my head all to myself, and I can see through my darkness and control it much better…and now I have a real sister."

Kuroi was too stunned to react to Rumia's kindness, so she settled for a compliment. "You're not kidding about having better control. That was some mighty fine styling back there. It's not easy to spread your aura so thin that it's semitransparent."

"Really? Because I'm pretty used to making darkness that can still be vaguely seen through."

Kuroi started cracking up, and Rumia started giggling as well. "Those two certainly are entertaining," Mystia said, and Cirno agreed.

* * *

><p>CCX: Oh, no, I'm turning into one of <em>those<em> authors, the ones that spend too much time describing clothing. Still, I'm having a lot of fun with this now; kind of reminds me of the days when _Dream_ wasn't writer's-blocked to all hell. Speaking of which, I really should publish the remaining completed chapters because I'm definitely noting some parallels between this duo and a pair from a yet-unpublished portion of _Dream_. Well, seeing as how I've somehow managed to not mess this up (I think), it's time to move on and see how long it takes for me to come up with more (or if I can complete any _Phantasm_ chapters in the meantime). Ja ne!

**(1)** I went over to Wikipedia to look up what different shades of blue meant so that I could choose a word that seemed to fit with the picture I had in my head, since "dark blue" would probably conjure up an image more like what Wriggle normally wears and "blue-gray" didn't seem right either because my image wasn't really all that gray; this was the one that seemed closest. Try looking it up some time; you'd be amazed at how many shades of blue are trademarked by universities. I laughed when I saw that the color swatch next to "Carolina blue" in the shades of blue template looks _nothing_ like Carolina blue and in fact looks exactly like the swatch next to "Duke blue". (Note to any non-American readers who don't understand the humor in this: Duke University and the University of North Carolina are bitter rivals, so such a mistake would probably be a serious offense in their part of the country.)


	13. Chapter 13

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Chapter ⑬

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, not my stuff.

CCX: I've realized that the longer this goes on, the less accurate the description becomes. For starters, the business is tangential to the actual plot at best—we had back-to-back three-chapter plots that had nothing to do with it. In addition, there's the question of which two characters deserve to be in the "featured characters" spot. Cirno and Mystia were the obvious choices at first, even though it seemed like at the beginning, Wriggle was getting the most attention. (This was probably a side effect of her narrating Team 9's chapter of _The Scarlet Devil_.) I tried to bring the focus back over to Cirno with the Retelling of Fairy Wars arc, but then the Kuroi chapter exploded into a full arc, and furthermore Kuroi actually stuck around afterwards, which means that of the four of them, _Rumia_ is probably the one getting the most attention, while Cirno is probably in fourth place again. (Mystia has yet to receive her own arc, but aside from being in the least important of the three groups in the Kuroi arc, she's been a good supporting character for everyone else.) Which brings us to the other point: Chen keeps getting written out of stories. I really haven't found a place for her to shine yet, and as a result, I'm pretty sure that Yamame has played a larger part than Chen has. Hell, _Lily_ has probably played a larger part than Chen has. So, um…chapter. With Mystia finally at the true focus.

* * *

><p>"A wedding? I dunno, Mysti-chan…I'm not really a fan of going to parties where they already know me. Someone's bound to pressure me into performing, and I can't sing, and I don't want to perform if my sisters won't be there, which seeing as how I'm only invited as your guest means they probably aren't."<p>

"Calm down, Lyrica-chan; no one's going to make you perform. And you wouldn't _have_ to sing. _I_ sing, remember?"

"How could I ever forget? Your sweet melodic voice charmed me from afar, and I was drawn towards you and…acted like a complete idiot."

"When in reality you're only a 60% idiot," Mystia snarked.

"Ha ha, real cute. But seriously, you'd get up and sing at the wedding?"

"Sure. I'd do it a cappella if need be, but I certainly wouldn't mind having a talented keyboardist at my back."

"Ah, you know I can't resist you when you flatter me like that. Okay, let's do this. I probably need a new dress…"

"I know a dressmaker. Friend of a friend, or rather, girlfriend of a friend."

"Yamame's going pro now?" Mystia nodded. "Cool."

"Yeah…I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do when you were considering not coming. I'd look pretty silly as the only member of my team to show up to the party without a date. Well, except for Rumia-chan and Kuroi-chan, but they have each other so they really don't need dates."

Lyrica raised an eyebrow at this. "That's…certainly a strange relationship. Wait, what about Dayousei-san?"

"Oh yeah, Daiyousei-san! I keep forgetting that she's technically part of the group."

"And Cirno-chan…I was going to discuss with you about trying to find someone for Cirno-chan, but we really haven't talked much recently."

"Cirno-chan's just fine. You yourself saw the opening stages forming, briefly." Lyrica looked confused. "Last time were there, Cirno-chan had been talking to Lily-chan…remember?"

"Oh…so Cirno-chan and Lily-chan are in love now?"

"Yeah. They're real cute together. Mostly just hugging and laughing a lot and sucking face."

"So, nothing like this?" Lyrica slipped her tongue into Mystia's ear and started running it around.

"N-no, Lyri-kan, nothing…like that." Mystia tried to pull away, but the pleasure just wouldn't allow it.

"Hee hee. They don't know what they're missing, then."

"You and your 'gifts'."

"What can I say? I know how to please a woman, or at the very least, _my_ woman."

Mystia sighed contentedly. "I love when you get all assertive for a change."

"Then how 'bout I reassert my tongue into your ear?"

"Re_insert_, dumba—aa—AAA!"

* * *

><p>CCX: And now the mystery from Chapter ➃—once cut off when Mystia was going to refer to it and once when Lyrica was about to do it—has finally been revealed. I was thinking that the running gag of not mentioning it and letting the readers fill in something even dirtier might be fun, but…yeah. Lyrica's apparently very skilled with her tongue. Ja ne!<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: As usual, Kuroi is the only character I own.

Chapter ⑭

Mystia sighed. "Cirno-chan's late again."

Just then, the ice fairy in question burst in with a huge grin on her face. "Look what I found! Doesn't it look just like me?" She held up what looked to be an oversized version of her own head.

"Whoa, take it easy, Cirno-chan!" Daiyousei said. "Yeah, it does kind of look like you."

Having heard the words "take it easy", the Yukkyuri responded with its own catchphrase. "Eye'm the strongest!"

"Sounds kind of like her, too," Wriggle said.

"Hey! Eye don't sound anything like that! Uh, I mean…" The others laughed.

"It looks like _food_ to me," Kuroi said.

"Oneechan!" Rumia said.

"What?"

"No, silly, it's a yukkuri!" Chen told them. "Ran-chama has a bunch of them. They're really cute, and they all kind of look like me—although Ran-chama says that I'm cuter."

"Well, I want to keep it," Cirno said.

"So I can't eat it?"

"No, Kuroi-san, you can't eat it."

"Hey, there's another one…did it follow you?" Daiyousei asked.

"Huh? Where? I don't see anything," Cirno replied.

"Yeah, me neither. Are you sure you're not seeing things, Dai-san?" Mystia asked.

"No, it's right _here!_" Daiyousei grabbed the little yukkuri, which was flying rather unsteadily.

"Huh. You're right. I wonder why I didn't see it before," Wriggle said. "…it kind of looks like _you_, but…it's got a vine growing on its head, covered in…are those smaller versions of itself and the one that looks like Cirno?" The Daiyousei-type was yelling at the Cirno-type for running off, although in reality it hadn't run off so much as it was taken away by Cirno.

"A vine? Is it part plant and part animal?" Rumia asked.

"This one looks and _smells_ like food," Kuroi said.

Mystia replied, "Be quiet, Kuroi-chan. You think the same thing about _humans_."

"Well, they're traditionally my prey! And this 'being good' thing really pisses me off when it means I can't eat people. Also, you're certainly one to talk, Miss Night Sparrow."

"I don't eat people! I only use my powers for profit, not hunting! I'm not very high on the food chain at all, actually…" she lamented.

Just then, the little koyukkuris on the stalk started to shake back and forth. "Oh no! And I took so much care not to disturb them while I was flying," the mother said.

"You're awfully eloquent for a yukkuri," Chen said, "but you need to take it easy a bit more. Your babies are being born, silly!"

"Babies?" all of the others asked.

"Yeah, babies. That stalk is how they have babies. I guess the one that Cirno found was about to become a daddy, and her mate got worried that she wouldn't be back in time for the babies to be born."

"…You refer to it as a 'she', but it's going to become a father?" Kuroi asked.

"It's…they…I don't know, it's like they're all female, but when it comes to reproduction, they're all hemaphro—hermasto—harephmo—well, they have both male and female reproductive parts!" she cried, exasperated at her inability to come up with the word she was looking for.

Kuroi chuckled. "I think I understand why Ran-san thinks she's so adorable."

"Quit teasing me! Nya…" Chen went and made a nice soft bed for the koyukkuris to drop down onto, and they greeted their parents, "Dage id eajy!" The two Koyukkyuris added, "Eye'm da shdwongeshd!"

"Aw, they're so cute!" everyone said, and even Kuroi relented that she couldn't bring herself to eat the Daiyousei-type now that it was a mother, no matter how tasty it smelled.

"I'll go get Ran-chama to teach you how to take care of them, Cirno-chan," Chen said, shifting to cat form and starting to run off. Mystia grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, and she quickly returned to her normal form. "Ack! What was that for?"

"You can get Ran-sama _after_ your shift."

"O-okay…"

* * *

><p>CCX: Well, hopefully this little filler chapter will help me transition back towards non-yukkuri fare. But they're so <em>cute!<em> Then again, so are Team 9. Ja ne!


	15. Chapter 15

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: I've written more than enough disclaimers for this fic already, I think. But yeah, not my stuff, whatever.

CCX: Yeah, I've run out of ideas for filler, so on to our next planned event. (Although technically, there's no overarching story arc so the term "filler" shouldn't really have any meaning in this fic.) Also, some of the cutaways won't feature any Team 9 members at all—we're going to be covering the majority of the non-OC attendees.

Chapter ⑮

"So? How do I look, oneechan?"

"Stunning. I'm almost envious of you. Do I look okay?" Kuroi replied.

"What are you talking about, 'envious of _me_'? You look great, as always. You're far prettier than I am."

"We're identical twins, you idiot. You're just as pretty as I am."

"Well, then, if you think _I'm_ looking good, why are _you_ worried?"

"I'm…still not used to wearing real clothes. In between not having a body of my own for so long and being able to shape my own clothing out of darkness…"

"You've been doing fine so far."

"Ah, yeah, but that's just casual stuff…this is my first time getting all dressed up since I got my new body." She thought about it a bit. "Actually, I think it's my first time getting dressed up like this, period."

"Well, you look great. So stop worrying." Rumia gave her sister a quick kiss and left, Kuroi blushing before following.

* * *

><p>"Will you <em>please<em> stop fussing over this?"

"I'm sorry, Wriggle-chan, I just want you to look adorable!" Yamame replied.

"What you've made is lovely enough already…and yet, if you really want to make it better, you could try dyeing it."

"What's wrong with white?"

"We're going to a _wedding_."

"Yes, I know that at a Western-style wedding, the color white is traditionally reserved for the bride alone. This, however, is an Eastern-style wedding."

"…Right. Well, regardless, I'm happy with what you've made for me. So stop working and get dressed." Yamame's own dress used her usual colors—gold and brown—in large alternating diagonal bands. It was very simple compared to the one she'd made for Wriggle—which Wriggle wasn't exactly happy about. Yes, while ever since she'd started dating Yamame, she no longer got mistaken for a boy (much), she felt that things may have gone _too_ far in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>"RAN! Could you help me out with this thing?"<p>

"Yukari-sama…I'm a bit surprised. I don't think I've ever seen you wear a kimono."

"Yes, well, Reimu-chan insisted that I not wear something over-the-top like I did for the Kirisame-Margatroid wedding. I've already checked, and there's no danger that my kimono will upstage the one Reimu-chan will be wearing."

"Whereas at Marisa-chan and Alice-chan's wedding, it was merely dumb luck that the bride's dress was even more over-the-top."

"It's not luck. Just because I didn't see the dress in advance doesn't mean it was luck."

"Did you _want_ to upstage the bride there?"

"Not at all. I just felt that I needed to remind people who I am."

"I don't think anyone is going to forget, Yukari-sama." Yukari's kimono was indeed very nice, in her usual violet with a red floral pattern, so if what she said was correct, Ran figured that Reimu might subconsciously be trying to outdo Alice's wedding dress. Ran was dressed in a far simpler kimono, aquamarine with a coral obi.

"And don't you nosebleed all over it," Yukari said.

"Huh?" Just then, Chen entered the room, dressed in a red-and-orange kimono. "Not to worry, Yukari-sama; I helped her with that, so I've already gotten that out of my system."

"Of course." Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Wait, the one _Reimu-chan_ will be wearing? Isn't _Sanae-chan_ the bride at this wedding?"

* * *

><p>"Cirno, are you almost ready?"<p>

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be right out. You _could_ come in, you know."

"Your house is always so _cold_," Lily replied. The spring fairy floated outside Cirno's home in a short-sleeved, asymmetric white dress, and instead of a hat, she was wearing a white hair ribbon similar to the ribbon Cirno usually wore. Cirno exited, and Lily's jaw dropped. The normally childish-looking ice fairy was wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap dress that went to about mid-thigh; it was ruched in the middle, giving the illusion that her chest was merely small rather than completely flat. The heels she wore would increase her height by 10 percent, which normally wouldn't be important because she'd be flying anyway, but on this occasion they would be for reasons that will be discussed later. Lily was more surprised by what was above the neck, however. For starters, the 'Beloved Tomboyish Daughter' was wearing makeup. Also, earrings—Lily hadn't realized Cirno had her ears pierced. (She would later learn that she _hadn't_—the earrings, which looked like they could have been aquamarines, were in fact made of _ice_, Cirno's own creation, and were pretty much frozen in place.) But that wasn't the most striking change. "Did you get hair extensions? I'm surprised you could find them in your color."

"I couldn't. Why do you think it took so long for me to be ready?" Lily wasn't quite sure what Cirno meant. Seeing her blank stare, Cirno clarified, "I got the extensions in white and dyed them to match my natural hair color."

"They have _hair dye_ in your color?"

"They have hair dye in _every_ color."

"Oh." A pause. "You really look amazing, Cirno-chan. I'm not used to seeing you this dressed up. Did Mystia-chan tell you that you need to be making a good impression?"

"N-no! This was entirely my decision!"

"Good. Because it really suits you well." She gave her girlfriend a long, passionate kiss.

"Uh, ah, shouldn't we get going? If we wait too long, we won't be able to fly there!"

"R-right." Lily looked down. "If we're going to be ground-bound for most of this event, why did you choose those shoes? No offense, but I can't imagine that someone who is used to flying everywhere could easily handle those heels."

"Hey, just because I'm not allowed to outright _fly_ doesn't mean I can't still use that ability to help keep me stable."

"So, floating at such a low height that your feet touch the ground?"

"Exactly. Of course, that's only if I start to trip."

"Right."

* * *

><p>"Koma-chan! Could you help zip me up?"<p>

"Of course, Eiki-sama."

The shinigami helped her mistress with the zipper in the back of her long green gown—not that there was much to do, as the upper half of Shikieiki's back was exposed. "So? What do you think?" she asked.

"With all due respect, Eiki-sama, don't you normally judge lying to be a sin?"

"Yes, I most certainly do, so don't be afraid to be brutally honest; I can handle it. Personally, I think it looks fine, but if you disagree…"

"I was referring to _you_ with that question, Eiki-sama. More specifically, to _those_."

Shikieiki gave a little cat grin. "I don't know what you mean," she said—another outright lie.

"The people of Gensokyo can be quite merciless. Izayoi-san _still_ gets the occasional padding joke, even though it's been well established by now that hers are real."

"Cut me some slack, Koma-chan! I'm the Judge of the Dead, which is a very important thing to be. I have to look suitably impressive, and I can't do that looking like a little kid!"

"You don't need to pad your bra to look mature, Eiki-sama. See, why don't you put on some heels, and I'll wear flats, and we'll be pretty close to the same height."

"But I won't be able to fill out this dress if I don't stuff!"

"Well then, I guess you'll have to wear something else," Komachi said, unzipping the dress again and sliding it off of her mistress's shoulders, then removing the heavily-padded bra.

"Koma-chan…wait, why are you removing my panties as well? We don't have time for this!"

"Aw, come on…but regardless, I was thinking perhaps if you wanted to look mature, you should wear something slit up the side. And for that, you're probably better off with something…smaller."

"I'm not wearing one of those things that ride up my butt."

"You could always go commando…"

"…Fine, I'll wear one of those things that ride up my butt."

"Good girl. Erm, my lady." Shikieiki couldn't help but laugh at her subordinate's unease at having momentarily taken a superior stance. She honestly didn't mind if Komachi talked to her as an equal outside of work, because it really would be awkward at times if they had to maintain their work relationship. Of course, even _before_ Komachi had figured it out, the yama hadn't always been the model of professionalism with her subordinate when off the clock. Yes, the gropings were at least _partially_ motivated by jealousy, but… Well, eventually Komachi had gotten the hint, and here they were.

* * *

><p>"Why do all of these damn things have to be during the day?" Remilia cried.<p>

"It's a big thing, and they want to maximize the time. A lot of species, humans especially, don't do well with staying up late."

"They could at least have it start a bit closer to sundown," Remilia said. "I would be fine with that."

"It's not all about you, you know," Sakuya replied.

"Yeah, yeah." Even after becoming a couple, Remilia and Sakuya's relationship hadn't changed much—Remilia addressed Sakuya as more of an equal and allowed Sakuya to be more familiar with her, but Sakuya still performed all of the same duties she had previously. At the moment, this involved dressing Remilia in a Victorian-style gown that was almost the shade of dried blood, but not quite as dull and brown. Sakuya herself was wearing a black evening gown with white trim—Patchouli had remarked that it looked like a dressier version of a maid outfit, but the consensus had been that it was fine.

"Besides, our nighttime gatekeeper is on the guest list and our daytime one isn't, so it works out better this way."

"Really? I thought she would've been attending as an 'and Guest'. Isn't she dating that shopkeeper that's friends with the witch?"

"I'm not used to you paying that much attention to learning about who the workers here are as people."

"Give me _some_ credit, will you?"

"Okay, okay…Remi-san."

* * *

><p>"I still don't understand how you ended up as the maid of honor…or I guess technically it's 'matron of honor' because you're married, but that just sounds silly, especially when talking about one as youthful as you."<p>

"Well, Sanae-chan felt weird about putting any of her non-Gensokyo friends in the wedding party, since she hasn't even really spoken with them in years. And beyond that, she had the same problem that I had—most of her friends were Reimu-san's friends first; also she doesn't really have that many friends aside from Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama, the former of whom is going to be serving as mother of the bride and the latter of whom will be, for the sake of appearances, the flower girl."

Marisa chuckled. "Even though Suwako-sama is the one who is actually Sanae-chan's ancestor. But still, when did you two become good friends?"

"I believe it was at my bachelorette party, although I forget the exact details."

"Was that before or after you came to blows?"

"Before. Apparently I'm not the only clingy possessive bitch around here."

"So if the two of you are both so clingy and possessive, how come Reimu and I were the ones to propose?"

Alice kissed Marisa. "Because it gets us to stop wondering how long it will be until you stray."

"Alice…"

"That wasn't a jab at your early infidelities; rather, it was a dig at our insecurities, that we _expected_ you to be unfaithful and needed that type of reassurance to be confident that it wouldn't happen."

"…Okay."

* * *

><p>"Reisen-chan, make sure Tewi-kun doesn't cause too much trouble while we're out," Eirin said. Reisen nodded.<p>

"I'm a bit surprised that Reisen-chan wasn't invited," Kaguya opined.

"Yeah, me too. I'm guessing that they decided that the benefits of excluding Tewi-kun outweighed the benefits of including Reisen-chan."

Kaguya laughed. "Right. Hey, Mokou-chan, what's taking so long?"

"I-I can't do this…"

"You can't be serious. You've been alive for _centuries_, Mokou-chan; you shouldn't have had any _choice_ earlier in your life!"

"I know, but…it's been a long time since I've worn a skirt. Also, back then they were long and flowy, like what you normally wear."

"…You want to switch?"

"…What?"

"We swap clothes all the time. I didn't think you wanted to wear a dress, but if you're uncomfortable with what we picked out for you, I'll wear it and you can wear my dress."

Mokou came out. "Th-thanks…I think that gave me the confidence I need."

"So is that a yes?"

Mokou laughed. "No…I really can't picture you in modern clothing." Mokou was wearing a gray blouse and a red skirt that stopped just short of the knee.

"Hey, I could be contemporary if I wanted to! I'm pretty enough…" Kaguya was already departing from her usual style—if not for the color (black), she wouldn't have looked out of place in a Disney movie—floor-length dress, opera gloves, you know the deal. Of course, she had her long hair down, which is another Disney no-no (at least for the quintessential princess scene).

"You're beautiful," Mokou said. "Maybe next time."

"Or maybe next time you won't have to worry about wearing a skirt," she replied, leaving Mokou to wonder if Kaguya was just playing with her head or if she was actually implying that the next wedding could be theirs.

The door of the mansion opened. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, but I kind of expected to be leaving already."

"We were just about to head out," Kaguya replied. Keine's jaw started to drop when she saw them. "Doesn't Mokou-chan look lovely?" Kaguya asked, and Keine could only nod weakly.

"Hey, Keine-chan…wasn't there someone else from the Human Village that you said would be coming with us?"

"I thought so, but it turns out she had to head over early. She's probably already there by now."

"Well, then, let's get going."

* * *

><p>"Welcome! I'm sure you've already heard the rules: no flying, no danmaku, no youkaifairy/goddess weirdness," Suwako said. "Wait for the go-ahead before entering; the gate has been turned into a gap."

"Ah…are we still allowed to do 'youkai weirdness' out here?" Yamame asked.

"Oh, sure! I've had to do plenty of it!" Her oversized sleeves suddenly stretched out beyond what they normally should have been able to do. "Hey! You're not on the guest list!" She corralled Mima, who had been trying to enter by air—a no-no even if you _were_ invited. The evil spirit recognized the youthful-looking goddess from Marisa and Alice's wedding, but didn't realize that she was a goddess, and looked extremely pissed that a little girl was beating her up.

Meanwhile, Yamame was creating some more silk. "Ah…what are you doing? Hey, hey, watch it…" Wriggle cried out, starting to blush.

"There. I hadn't even thought of it, but if this is supposed to be 'normal-looking' only, we really should have tied down your antennae. You look so cute. Doesn't she look so cute, Suwako-sama?"

"Very," Suwako agreed, not even looking at Mima as she whipped the evil spirit back and forth and slammed her against the ground. To-the-right-to-the-left-to-the-right-to-the-left-to-the…

* * *

><p>"Ah, good, Marisa, you're here."<p>

"Back to not using honorifics with me, huh Reimu-chan?"

"Too worked up. I hate this tradition that the bride and groom aren't supposed to see each other until the actual wedding. Nae-chan and I did so much planning together, and I want to greet the guests as a couple!"

"You'll get your chance to do that at the reception. That's some kimono, by the way. I figured you wouldn't want to wear a tuxedo like I did as the groom, but looking at that, I feel as though I should be bowing down to you and calling you 'my lord'."

Reimu blushed. "Ma-marisa! That's…this is not the time for that!"

"What are you talking about? I merely meant that this looks like the type of thing an emperor would wear for his wedding."

"Ah…yes, well, I wanted to be properly stunning…you two set the bar pretty high at your wedding."

"I wasn't that stunning. Alice was the one who really shined. Are you, who is going to be a groom, trying to outdo my _bride_?"

"…Yes."

"Reimu-chan…Reimu. You really are incredible. I know things kind of got weird between us around my wedding, but I'm glad you still wanted me to be your 'best man', so to speak, and I'm glad things are finally getting back to normal." She looked uncomfortable for a moment, trying to figure out what to do, then settled for hugging her best friend/ex-girlfriend and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Marisa-chan…you still secretly wish you could be polygamous, don't you?"

"Guilty as charged, Reimu-dono!" she teased.

Reimu was about to playfully hit her, but another groomswoman read the situation and charged in. "Hiya, Marisa-chan!"

Marisa pried herself from the ceiling where Suika had deposited her. "H-hey, Suika-chan…you're looking very pretty. But what's with the giant _odango_?"

"Reimu-chan did my hair for me. Yukari-sama and Ran-san helped. It's to hide my horns."

"I still don't see how you think you can pull off a wedding that Sanae's non-Gensokyan friends would consider 'normal'. For crying out loud, the only one qualified to walk the groom down the aisle is a freaking _turtle_."

"Genjii-san isn't going to be walking me down the aisle," Reimu said, "although we did put a tank inside so that he could be at the actual wedding rather than the reception."

"Why can he only be at one?"

"Because he has to pass as a normal turtle. Having a giant turtle in a tank inside the Shrine doesn't make _much_ sense, but at least it makes more sense than having him at both the ceremony and the reception. Oh, hey, it sounds like the other outworlders are arriving."

"Other…outworlders?" Amazingly given that Alice was actually somewhat native to Makai, there was a larger contingent from the realm at this wedding, as Shinki and Yumeko were again present, and this time so were Sariel and Elis, as well as Yuki and Mai (although they didn't arrive with the other Makai natives). Also arriving from long-forgotten lands were Yumemi Okazaki and her assistant Chiyuri Kitashirakawa; Kotohime, the quirky "princess" who wanted to be a police officer; the dream world siblings, Mugetsu and Gengetsu; and Elly, who came along with her less-forgotten mistress, Yuuka Kazami. "I didn't realize you'd kept in touch with so many of these people…I'm not sure if I've even _met_ a couple of them," Marisa mused, indicating Sariel and Elis. "But didn't you used to have your own gatekeeper?"

"Ah, Marisa-chan, you haven't met Sariel-san and Elis-chan? Sariel-san, Elis-chan, this is my daughter-in-law, Marisa Kirisame." Marisa couldn't help but notice that Shinki had used a gender-neutral honorific when speaking to Sariel, which was quite annoying as she'd been unable to figure out what gender it was upon first seeing it.

"Charmed," Elis said, not straying from Sariel's side. Well, that hungry look that Elis had on her face might suggest that Sariel was male…but then again, Alice had given Marisa that same look a few times.

"Yeah, about that," Reimu said, answering Marisa's question, "I have no idea what happened to him. Her. It."

"You weren't sure what gender your gatekeeper was?"

"On the contrary. There was one form that was male, one that was female, and one that had no gender."

"And he/she/it just _vanished_?"

"…Yes."

* * *

><p>"Okay, what is this bucket doing on this chair? Do I need to call in a walrus?"<p>

"Surprise!" the bucket answered, and Kisume popped out.

"Who are you?" Sanae started to ask, but stopped when the full emergence of the small green-haired demon didn't stop the pop-ups. "What are you doing here, and why did you bring a friend?"

"You invited me," Kogasa said, "though I figured I'd surprise you by overlooking your failure to write 'and Guest' on my invitation."

"No I didn't. And if you did get an invitation, I wouldn't have put 'and Guest' on it anyway."

"You did so invite me."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Yes, you did," Kanako said. "You were at a loss for bridesmaids, so we decided that as poor as your first meeting with Kogasa-chan was, at least there had been some interaction and something to go on, and so you decided it was better than nothing."

Sanae looked again. Sure enough, Kogasa's dress matched Alice's. Kisume, meanwhile, was dressed in a white dress with gold trim that came down a bit past the knee and gold gladiator sandals. She sat down with her bucket underneath her chair, realizing that sitting in the bucket would not be considered "normal" and therefore making an effort to get out of it for once. Sanae sighed and continued to prepare for the big day.

* * *

><p>CCX: Yeah, a few characters couldn't make it into this chapter, Mystia and Lyrica among them. (Oh, and Daiyousei too.) But we got at least two new ships out of this chapter, including one between PC-98 characters! But that's secondary to Shikieiki and Komachi finally making their debut. The idea of Eiki-sama groping Komachi is absolutely adorable, and gave me images of Hayate Yagami cosplaying as the judge, possibly even forcing Signum into Komachi cosplay to go along with it.<p>

On the subject of other anime, when I thought up the name "Kuroi", I thought that it sounded fine as a first name even though I'd only ever heard it as a last name—namely, the teacher in _Lucky Star._ Well, wouldn't you know it, when I was writing the Yagami twins' section, I got to thinking that I might have subconsciously patterned their relationship after that show as well. Think about it…Rumia is the younger twin and is cheerful and kind of a ditz, and Kuroi is the older twin and is snarky and tsundere. _Totally_ the Hiiragi twins, am I right? LOL…to be continued!

(Final note: Of course _I_ know that "those things that ride up Shikieiki's butt" are called thongs. But she doesn't.)


	16. Chapter 16

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: This chapter contains many characters, most of which are property of ZUN.

A/N: Oopsies! Looks like there were more Makai natives than I thought. Chapter ⑮ has received a slight change. And although it isn't mentioned in the modified Chapter ⑮, you'll learn by the end of this chapter that this was done for the purpose of _even more pairings._

Chapter ⑯

"I don't think I like the fact that we have to hide our true nature for this thing," Shou said.

"I don't, either. The idea of humans and youkai coexisting peacefully is meaningless if the humans don't _know_ that they're coexisting with youkai," Byakuren replied.

"I'm used to it," Nue said. Rather than merely concealing her wings, the illusionist youkai had constructed an entirely new persona—brunette, a bit taller than her normal form, and a bit shapelier (though nothing like the exaggerated figure she often gave herself). Byakuren didn't call her out for it, because she was just thankful that Nue _had_ agreed to disguise herself as a human, and even hid Shou and Nazrin's ears.

"Well, it's not a matter of failure to get along with youkai. Many of these guests are from the other side of the barrier, and don't even know that youkai exist."

Byakuren's group stared at them. "Aren't _you_ from the other side of the barrier?" Ichirin asked.

"We're travelers," Maribel replied.

"This isn't our first time in Gensokyo," Renko clarified. "We're actually Reimu-san's guests, not Sanae-san's."

"You can do that?"

"I think it's Yukari-sama's doing."

* * *

><p>"…Holy sh—<em>Cirno-chan?<em>"

"Yes, Mysti-chan?"

"You look amazing! I've never seen you so dressed up! Lily-chan, you better keep an eye on her; someone might try to steal her away if you leave her on her own."

"You look like you might be one of them," Lyrica cracked.

"Don't be silly. Sure, she looks great, but she's still Cirno-chan. I could never think about her in a romantic light."

"Like I'd want you."

"If I didn't know you two better I'd think that you hated each other."

"Oh, hey, Wriggle-chan. Have you seen Dai-san or Rumia-chan and Kuroi-chan?"

"I'm right here," Daiyousei said, "and have been for the past five minutes."

"Really? You should've said something."

"Take your seats, everyone; it's almost time for the wedding." Unlike the last time, where we were in a first-person story and the narrator wasn't at the ceremony, the only way for us to skip past this part this time is with another cutaway.

* * *

><p>"Koti—I mean, Hakurei-san."<p>

"Yes, Suzuko-san?"

"I was surprised to hear from you again. You just sort of disappeared rather suddenly. But…we'd heard that you'd moved far away. Yet this…isn't far away at all. What happened? Why did you disappear?"

"Told ya someone would still realize that something was 'off'," Marisa whispered to Reimu, who responded by elbowing her.

"Ah, that's…would you believe me if I told you that you're a lot further from home than you think?"

"Oh, right, I forgot. You always _were_ a bit strange." He walked off, and Sanae breathed a sigh of relief.

"He had a point, though. We might not have thought this through, putting the gap right there in Japan near where you came from."

"Yeah. Probably should have put it on a different island. At least then I could claim that the rumors as to how far away I'd moved had merely been exaggerated."

"Why _couldn't_ you just go along with the rumors and have the gap in America?"

"Because nobody would go all the way to America just to go to a wedding for someone they haven't seen in years. Also because there aren't any shrines like this in America, you're even more Japanese-looking than I am, and you're wearing a ceremonial kimono. Anyone who _did_ go would suspect something."

"Well, things are going well so far. Let's get over to the bar so that we can _keep_ it that way; I'm not letting Suika-chan get drunk."

"Don't; you'll just make her mad. Even when she's sober, she's drunk, so you might as well let her drink."

* * *

><p>CCX: I actually know someone who is drunk all of the time, even when she hasn't been drinking. It's the result of drinking too heavily for too long. Moving on…let's take note of the fact that this is close to, if not over, a decade after the earliest PC-98 games, and that therefore any human characters from those games would have aged noticeably…<p>

* * *

><p>"Didn't I just see you over there?" Chiyuri asked.<p>

"Oh, you must have met my twin sister," Kuroi replied. "She's the nice one."

"Then you are…?"

"The naughty one," Kuroi replied, grabbing Chiyuri's chest.

"Hey! No molesting my cute little assistant! Only I can do that!" Yumemi shouted.

"Stop living in the past, Yumemi-san; I'm not your 'cute _little_ assistant' anymore, and we were never more than friends with benefits anyway!" She turned back to Kuroi and said, "So please," she hesitated a moment before addressing her, "Yagami-san…go right ahead and continue."

"How did you…?"

"I met your sister already, remember?"

"As tempting as it may be to do that right here and now…I think perhaps we need to go off somewhere where I can make things a bit more private." She led Chiyuri to a shady area and put up a bubble of darkness before continuing.

"Ah…I never expected someone who looks so young to be so good…but you're not really as young as you look, are you?"

"Nope. I'm Kuroi, by the way."

"Kuroi-san…ah, right, my name's Chiyuri Kitashirakawa."

"Chiyuri-chan…you're pretty cute, you know that?" Chiyuri giggled.

* * *

><p>"Do you want anything to drink, Koma-chan?" Shikieiki asked.<p>

"Huh? Oh, Eiki-sama, please, allow me to get those…"

"Nonsense. Some walking around would do me some good." _"And hopefully make things a bit more comfortable…maybe I _should've _just gone commando."_ The dress Komachi had come up with was the same shade of blue as her judge's robes, coming down just past the knee but with a slit up one side that went all the way to the middle of her pelvis. It was also cut somewhat low, with a neckline that curved around her small breasts, allowing her to still give off the effect of cleavage.

The fact that she was trying to work out a wedgie added even more of a shake to her step, and as she headed over to the bar, she couldn't help but notice that Komachi had been right—she was being stared at quite a bit. A small voice in the back of her head told her that all of those people were guilty of lust. She ignored it, because they were lusting over _her_, goddamnit! Nobody ever lusted over her! Well, Komachi did _now_, but that was only _after_ Shikieiki had thrown herself at her. She couldn't exactly fault Komachi for that one.

Upon arriving at the bar, she received a very crude pick-up line, and it took all of her strength not to judge him right there (he wasn't from Gensokyo, so he probably wasn't even in her jurisdiction) and to instead smile, thank him for the offer, and tell him that she was already with someone. The guy tried to push it, so the bartender intervened. "She said 'no', idiot," Koharu said, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him to the ground. "Go bother someone else."

"Thanks for that, Kobayashi-san," Shikieiki said.

"No problem. What'll you be having?"

"A gin and tonic for me and a strawberry daiquiri for Koma-chan."

"You know, a young-looking thing like you, I'm going to have to card you," Koharu teased. Shikieiki stared at her nervously and started fumbling around in her purse. "It was a _joke_, Shiki-sama. I know you're more than old enough to drink. Also, given your position, I'm not sure I'd deny you even if you weren't."

Shikieiki laughed nervously. "Of course. How silly of me…"

* * *

><p>Also receiving a pick-up attempt from a non-Gensokyan male was one Lyrica Prismriver, but the poor guy chose the <em>wrong<em> girl to use that line on. He happened to mention that he was in a _band_… "Oh, really? Let's see what you've got, then…" She prepared to get out her keyboard.

"Excuse us for a moment…" Mystia quickly pulled her away. "Lyrica-chan, have you forgotten that there's a 'no-weird stuff' policy in effect? You can't just conjure a keyboard out of thin air and then play it without touching it! That guy isn't even from here!"

"Ah…you're right. I guess we'll just have to ask the band if we can take over for a bit."

"'We' meaning the two of you, or are you including me in this?"

"Not really sure. A lot of the more impressive stuff I know is strictly instrumental, and I'd be more than happy to take care of _this_ myself."

"Hmm…you know most of the themes by heart, right?"

"Of course."

"I'll be right back." She headed off in the direction of the Table of Darkness.

"So?" the guy asked.

"Well, as I was saying, I'm in a band, too. You got any music on you? Since we likely don't know many of the same songs, we'll make it fair by each picking a song."

"You have your instrument on you?"

"No, but I'm sure the band will let us commandeer the stage for a bit if we explain what's up."

"Sounds like fun. You want to go first?"

"Nah, you first." The guy was a guitarist, so the two were able to play together. Lyrica naturally nailed her part perfectly, and just as they were finishing up, Mystia returned with the sheet music. While it probably would've been more appropriate to play one of Reimu's many themes, or perhaps "Faith is for the Transient People", but neither would properly showcase Lyrica's skills (and with the latter, she ran the risk of being shown up), which is why Mystia went over to the Scarlets' table and got a transcription of the sheet music for "Septette for the Dead Princess". "Think you can keep up?" Lyrica taunted. The guy couldn't. At this point, the band asked if she wanted to stay up there (which made their own keyboardist a bit pissed), but she declined, saying that she was here as a guest and only took the stage to show up that guy.

"Well, that _was_ pretty good," Remilia had to admit in regards to Lyrica's performance of her theme, as she and Mystia went over to the Scarlets' table afterwards. "Just a shame that you had to use it to show up a less talented musician who couldn't do it justice."

"It happens. Thanks for all of your help," Lyrica replied.

"No trouble at all," Sakuya replied.

* * *

><p>Also in the department of "weird youkai stuff"… "Ah, there you are, oneechan! You know you're not supposed to be making darkness barriers…" Rumia got a better look at just what Kuroi was up to. "Ah, Kuroi! Stop molesting Kitashirakawa-san!"<p>

"I got her permission!" Kuroi rebutted. "Well, her permission to continue, anyway, even after her friend told me to stop."

Rumia blushed. "Heh, Oneechan _does_ have that effect on people, doesn't she? Still…I'm sorry for my sister's behavior." Rumia bowed to Chiyuri and turned backed to Kuroi. "As for you, oneechan, you're staying with me." She took Kuroi's hand.

"But Rumi-tan…"

Rumia made puppy-dog eyes at her twin. "Please, onee-chan…just stay with me."

Kuroi nervously looked down. "Of-of course, Rumi-tan. I won't go anywhere."

"Thank you…oneechan."

"Uh…see you again sometime, Kuroi-san?" Chiyuri asked, putting her hair back in the pigtails she always wore around Yumemi.

Kuroi nervously looked over at her younger sister and said, "…We'll see."

* * *

><p>"So, this is your friend who had to come over early?" Mokou asked.<p>

"Yeah, this is Koharu Kobayashi. Koharu-san owns a bar in the Human Village."

"Eh? If she's the owner, why is she tending the bar?"

"She does both."

"More hands-on that way. Besides, it's the bartenders that patrons usually spill all of their troubles to."

"And Keine-chan is…troubled?"

Koharu laughed nervously. "Not as bad as some of our patrons. But everyone has some problems that they need to work out sometimes, right?" Keine was praying that Koharu didn't slip up and mention that Mokou was the root of most of Keine's "troubles"—of course, Koharu was far too professional to ever do such a thing.

"I suppose. But Keine-chan always seems so together. After all, she has to deal with trying to pass herself off as a normal human despite changing form every full moon, and she never seems to have any trouble at all."

"It's not good to just suppress everything, though. Sometimes you need an outlet."

"Don't I know it!" Kaguya chimed in. "Mokou-tan and I used to channel it all into fighting with each other…but then we found that there were other things we enjoyed doing with each other that served as an outlet just as well."

"So you must be Kaguya-hime, then. Keine-chan mentioned that her best friend was going out with the moon princess."

"You talk about us?" Mokou asked, curious.

"Yeah, you know…a bit…"

"Only good things, I'm sure." She pressed her cheek against Keine's, wrapping an arm around the were-hakutaku. Keine suddenly seemed very uncomfortable, but Koharu was the only one who seemed to notice.

"Well, we probably shouldn't hold Koharu-san up any longer than we have to," Keine said quickly as their drinks arrived, and Kaguya, Mokou, and Keine headed back to their table.

"Geez…_none of them_ see it?" Koharu muttered.

"You mean Keine-san's one-sided attraction to Mokou-san?" Koharu hadn't noticed that Eirin hadn't returned to the table with the rest of her group. "I've noticed…but no, neither Kaguya-hime nor Mokou-san have picked up on this. Being responsible for Kaguya-hime's happiness, I choose not to let them know, because Mokou-san _does_ truly love Keine-san as a friend and would likely become distressed if she learned how much pain she was causing her, and by extension, Kaguya-hime would become unhappy."

"You're probably right about that. I feel bad for Keine-chan, though." Eirin couldn't help but notice the way Koharu referred to Keine, and commented on it. "No, no, it's nothing like that." She held up her hand, showing Eirin that she was already married. "I know that technically Keine-chan probably _is_ older than me, but I'm further along in my lifespan, so I feel like the caring sempai." (A/N: Remember that the term sempai isn't restricted to a school setting—a coworker who is your senior but not your superior would also be "sempai".)

"Of course. That makes sense."

* * *

><p>"So?" Shinki asked, as Alice and Marisa happened by her table. "Have you two gotten to work giving me any cute grandchildren?"<p>

"B– Wh– MOM!" Alice yelled. "Don't ask such embarrassing questions!"

"_What?_ Is it so wrong for me to want grandchildren now that my daughter is married?"

"It's not like we can just have sex and poof, one of us is pregnant," Alice said. "There are special methods that have to be undertaken to have a baby with two female parents."

"So start undertaking!"

"Mom…"

"You know, I'm sure there must be _some_ sort of sin going on here," Shikieiki said—she and Komachi had been seated at the same table as the Makai group (minus Yuki and Mai, who were there with Gengetsu and Mugetsu respectively), along with Elly and Yuuka—"but I can't figure out exactly what it is."

"Lighten up, Shiki-sama. You always act like you have a stick up your butt," Alice said.

"It's probably that Rod of Remorse of hers," Marisa cracked. Meanwhile, Shikieiki's hands instantly went to her behind, and she blushed.

"Not exactly right, but surprisingly close," Komachi said.

"SHUT UP KOMA-CHAN!"

"Yes, my lady."

"Actually, Shiki-sama has been in a pretty good mood today," Shinki said.

"I think it's because of all the attention she's been getting," Yuuka opined.

"Attention?" Marisa asked.

"You didn't notice? Stand up and show Kirisame-san how pretty you are, Eiki-sama," Komachi said. Shikieiki blushed and did so, turning around quickly to show every side.

"Ah…wow, that's…uh…" Marisa looked at Alice weakly.

"It's okay; she turned me on, too," Alice said, blushing.

"Arinya!"

Shikieiki was turning bright red. "I think I overdid it…"

"See, I told you this would be much better than what you had wanted to do."

"Not a word about that, okay?"

"Okay, Eiki-sama." Marisa and Alice were both curious, but knew better than to push the yama.

* * *

><p>True to Mystia's prediction, Cirno was swarmed with attention, from suitors both male and female. She handled it…well, exactly as you'd expect a nine-ball to handle it, which is to say that she didn't, at all. Lily's presence helped fend off some of them, as Lily followed Mystia's advice and clung to Cirno's side, but nevertheless she was inundated by admirers (including a certain lolicon professor of comparative physics whose assistant had gone off with one of Cirno's coworkers).<p>

She wasn't the only member of Team 9 that was getting significant attention, however. Wriggle and Yamame were surrounded by females, many of them non-Gensokyan, who were enthralled with their unique dresses. As a result, Yamame had been taking a lot of orders and was going to have little choice but to open up a shop _outside_ of Gensokyo. She would have to speak to Yukari about trying to make that possible. For the moment, though, the inside of the shrine was being used for preliminary purposes. While the "no weird stuff" rule prevented Yamame from actually starting to make the dresses, there was nothing against taking measurements…and once the straight male guests caught wind of what was going on, there was suddenly a rush of people heading from the front of the shrine to the back, all trying to peep on Yamame's measurement-taking.

"I _really_ want to just sit back and enjoy the party…but they're making it _so_ hard!" Shikieiki complained.

"Look on the bright side, Eiki-sama…there's finally enough of a break in the staring at you that I can give you some sweet relief."

Shikieiki was momentarily confused, then turned beet-red as she felt the uncomfortable thong being removed from her body. "Koma-chan…don't be so shameless!"

"It's more comfortable this way, though, isn't it?"

"I-it is…but…it also is more revealing."

"Quit worrying so much. You'll be fine. Besides, you've definitely more than managed to be impressive, right?"

"Right."

With Yamame inside doing measurements, the attention on Wriggle had dropped to a minimal amount, but she wasn't being completely ignored. "You and Yamame-san certainly were getting a lot of attention, weren't you? I'm jealous."

"Eh? I didn't expect to see you here, Parsee-san!"

"Of course not. Nobody ever invites _me_ to parties." The bridge princess youkai was wearing a rather plain-looking brown dress—Wriggle figured that Yamame must not have known that Parsee would be there, either, or else she would have made something better.

"Will you lay off? You're my 'and guest', so just enjoy yourself." The teal-haired curse goddess wore a long red velvet gown with white lace trim, her long hair flowing freely and reaching down to her waist. Her shoes were the same dark red as her dress, worn over black pantyhose.

"Yes, Hina-chan," Parsee replied, blushing.

* * *

><p>At the beginning of the wedding, Aya Shameimaru had been quite frustrated. Yes, she was still taking pictures and writing a story, but being grounded severely hampered her ability to do the former to the degree she desired. However, that had all changed when Yamame started getting orders coming in left and right, because Yamame needed a good picture to work off of when coming up with ideas (and to associate names with faces in this particular case), and since there were far too many to actually have the girls model for her, photos would have to be taken. Which meant Aya. Better yet, Yamame wouldn't even have any <em>use<em> for the negatives, so Aya was more than free to do what she wanted with them…and she had been doing a brisk business selling the pics of the naked girls to the perverted guys (and girls) who had been trying to peek. Life was good.

* * *

><p>"Why wasn't I allowed to bring Okuu-chan along?" Flandre asked. She had begun to understand the concept of dating and was coming to grips with the fact that she <em>did<em> have feelings for Okuu, and although the only members of the SDM that had girlfriends present were Sakuya and Remilia (who were with each other), a look at the other couples suggested that some of the guests were only there because they were dating other guests.

"Utsuho-san's powers make her too dangerous to bring to such an event, and on top of that, her Third Leg would be too difficult to hide," Sakuya said.

"That's crazy! If my wings can be hidden, anything can be hidden!" Flandre had never been as still as she'd been throughout the reception, as not even the concealing illusion could stop Flandre's "sparkly rainbow trick".

"Perhaps we should leave early," Remilia said.

"Can't," Patchouli replied, "the Gensokyans can't leave until after the non-Gensokyans because the front gate is currently a gap."

"We'll leave through the back…or something. I don't know…"

"If we can be sure that nobody's watching, I _could_ always just gap you guys away," Yukari said. The Yakumos and Yuyuko and Youmu were at the same table as the SDM crew.

"Nah, forget it. It won't be long before the sun sets, anyway."

* * *

><p>"So, how did we do?" Reimu asked.<p>

"Well, I don't think anyone got too suspicious. A couple of people noticed the lopsided gender ratio, but I managed to convince them that at a lesbian wedding, you'd expect a lot of same-sex couples, right? And luckily that _did_ work both ways because a couple of my male guests turned out to have male lovers anyway, so it was plausible. I'm a little concerned by how well it worked, actually; about half of the girls have dress orders pending with Yamame-san and one of them took Nitori-chan home with her."

"Yeah…wait, _what?_"

"Hey, it means Nitori-chan isn't hung up on Marisa-chan anymore."

"True. What about your other former cohorts from Youkai Mountain? I was surprised that Hina-sama was the only one who brought a date."

"Aya-chan did too."

"Right. I forgot that Momiji-san wasn't actually on the guest list. Still, they're not actually dating."

"Yes, well, Momiji-chan didn't really get the type of attention she wanted…most people thought she was a guy. Aya-chan, well, I didn't expect much out of her, because she was too busy selling copies of the pictures she took for Yamame-san to all of the perverts. As for the Aki sisters…I'm a little surprised that neither one of them got any attention. I thought Minoriko-sama looked damn good."

"Poor girls, always getting ignored…you'd think that being goddesses would prevent that, wouldn't you?"

"Well, we moved here because of a lack of faith, so even goddesses can get ignored sometimes."

"But they never have any trouble with getting faith; it's just their physical presence that gets ignored."

"True, true. So…why do we still have guests here?"

Reimu turned around and noticed a conspicuous blob of darkness. "Ignoring the fact that your powers aren't even supposed to work properly right now…why are you still here and how did you slip away from your sister?"

"Ah, that's…well, it's a lot easier for Yuri-chan to get back to her world than it would be for me to get back here if I went with her, and besides I still don't want to be _too_ far away from Rumi-tan, and…"

"I think you have some issues to work out with your sister if you couldn't just bring her back to your place. Given how much you two seemed to dislike each other, I'm surprised that she seems to be so afraid of losing you again."

"Uh, that's…er…" Kuroi thought for a moment. "I should go." She sped off with absolutely no consideration for Chiyuri, who was now fully visible to the owners of the shrine. She frantically got dressed and left.

"Finally. So, shall we?"

"We'd better. We can't really go off on a honeymoon, so we might as well just go all night long."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

><p>CCX: Wow, that was long. And hilarious. I'm not sure which part was more fun, writing all of the Shikieiki parts or writing all of the Kuroi parts. Ja ne!<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: The circled chapter number thing may have to go by the wayside soon, because MS Word only has up to 20 in their symbols database. Also, the usual disclaimer.

A/N: Crud, I was looking up the Gensokyo Timeline for the purposes of this chapter (see if I could get anything canon about when the barrier was put up), and I found that officially, Fairy Wars actually takes place between Mountain of Faith and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. On the bright side, there is indeed an unusually long stretch of time between Hisoutensoku and Ten Desires, so my vague "somewhere between two and three years after Mountain of Faith" timeline does indeed put these stories before Ten Desires and after every other game. As for exact timing, I think the majority of _The Scarlet Devil _(and by extension, the beginning of this story) took place in the spring (which is when _Fairy Wars_ canonically takes place, albeit two years earlier), and now we're somewhere in the behold as I make up a bunch of silly stuff that probably violates some sort of canon.

Chapter ⑰

"Hey, is there some big event coming up?" Kuroi asked. "Because I've noticed that we've been preparing a lot of food, and Chen's even been here every day for awhile now."

"You don't know?" Mystia replied. "No, of course you wouldn't; you haven't really been in this world for very long. Tomorrow's Barrier Day, and naturally there are plenty of parties for us to cater. I'm really glad that we've got a lot of customers; this is the holiday I figured would be one of our busiest."

"Barrier Day?"

"The anniversary of the erection of the Hakurei Border."

"…I thought Gensokyo counted years from when the border was erected, so shouldn't that be New Year's Day?"

"…Things rarely work out so perfectly. The Gensokyo Calendar actually started, at year _0_ no less, at the beginning of the year that was already in progress when the barrier went up; this will be the 125th anniversary of its erection. Anyway, we're going to be swamped, so everyone is going to have to go out on their own to deliver food."

"Even me? I'm still not entirely familiar with the geography here."

"I'll send you somewhere you've already been. Naturally, the Hakurei Shrine usually hosts a really big party, and knowing Reimu-san, she'd be more than happy to have someone else make the food for her."

"But have you actually _gotten_ an order from her?" Wriggle asked. "Because her reputation for laziness is exceeded by her reputation for eternal poverty."

"Actually, Kanako-sama came by with the order the other day. I haven't seen much of Reimu-san _or_ Sanae-san lately; I suppose they're trying to do a stay-at-home honeymoon, doing only the bare minimum duties."

"Understandable," Cirno said.

"Okay, next question: will we be able to _enjoy_ this holiday as well, or will we have to work all day? Because now I'm curious."

"We'll be working for most of the afternoon, but we should be able to go wherever for the evening. The Hakurei Shrine party is usually open to the public, so if you don't have anywhere to go, that's probably your best bet. Of course, I'll be spending the evening with Lyrica-chan in Hakugyokurou."

"Good. I'd hate to miss a chance to learn more about the customs here."

* * *

><p>"Ah, Youkai Mountain. You know, it's surprisingly quiet here," Chen said.<p>

"That's because the tengu have been keeping to themselves lately. Well, as much as they're _capable of_, anyway."

Chen laughed. "Kappa-tengu relations still aren't too happy?"

"It's not like we hate one another. We're just too different. They're noisy, and we're reserved."

"Whatever. I really should get going…oh, it's Nitori-chan! So, how did things go?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know, with that girl."

Nitori blushed. "Oh, right…I need to properly thank Yukari-sama for covering my mistake."

"You should thank Reimu-san, too; she was the one who brought it to Yukari-sama's attention."

"R-right. Actually, the only 'problem' is that I don't know how long I can claim to be 'busy'. Kami-chan really wants to see me again, but…I can't keep going back to the old world, and I can't just ask for Yukari-sama to keep making closed spaces for me."

"…'Kami-chan?'"

"Hehehe…my nickname for **Ka**nnazuki **Mi**chiru. She says she's kind of embarrassed by it, but she _is_ a goddess to me, and besides, she has her close friends call her 'Mika-chan' based on the _western_ name ordering, so 'Kami-chan' really makes sense."

"That's so cute. I hope you figure something out, like maybe a portable moe field or something. I'll tell Yukari-sama you said thanks, okay?"

"Okay, thank you Chen!" Nitori thought about this. "Hmm…that's a great idea! I'm going to have to start working on developing a machine that can generate a localized moe field…although in the end, I'd still need to tell Kami-chan the truth eventually if things got serious."

* * *

><p>"This doesn't look like the full order," Kanako told Kuroi upon delivery.<p>

"It isn't," Kuroi replied. "I thought Mysti-chan had discussed this with you. Because of the size of the order, I'm bringing half of it over now, and then Rumi-tan and I will bring the other half at the end of the workday because we're going to be coming here anyway."

"Are you two the only ones from your group who are coming here?"

"I'm not sure what Dai-san and Cirno-san are doing, but Chen-san doesn't really do much for this holiday because, well, Yukari-sama, and Mysti-chan and Wriggle-san are going to Hakugyokurou and the Underworld, respectively, with their girlfriends." Kanako nodded.

* * *

><p>CCX: I double-checked; Kuroi had never referred to any of the other members of Team 9 by name aside from her sister, so I haven't contradicted myself on the honorifics. I think it's really somewhat of a sign of Kuroi's development that she does use the "-san" honorific with most of her colleagues, signifying that they're still not entirely "familiar" to her—Mystia being the one that she's closest with (aside from Rumia, of course). This is also the first time I've ever attached an honorific to Chen's name due to my unwillingness to have anyone call her "Chen-chan" and the fact that there are few who would use any honorific other than "-chan" or the null with her.<p>

* * *

><p>"Heh…this little one has got some style."<p>

"And here I thought that wearing the same outfit to a party was supposed to be a faux pas," Murasa replied dryly. Rumia's mastery of her darkness powers continued to increase, and the outfit she'd conjured up at the moment was quite similar to the one Nue typically wore—black minidress and black thigh-highs.

"Yeah, if you weren't standing right there, I'd think it _was_ you," Ichirin added, "especially given your tendency to fudge your chest size." Both Nue and Rumia blushed at this comment, the latter sheepishly retracting her darkness a little to be legitimately form-fitting rather than displaying her desired shape.

"So what do I owe you guys for this?" Byakuren asked.

"It…says here that the account's already been paid. I didn't know Mystia-chan did that—well, actually, I don't see any reason not to, but it's more like she doesn't _expect_ to get payment until the job is done."

"I don't seem to remember paying you…"

"I handled this, remember?" Shou interjected. "Nazrin and I. We took care of everything. And, yes, we paid up front. Lorelei-san did seem incredulous when we told her that we would be paying for everything right away, but I told her that I trusted her to do the honorable thing and actually perform the job she was paid for."

"Ah. That explains it then, Yagami-san. Thank you for a job well done."

"Y-you're welcome." Rumia wasn't used to being referred to on the more formal last-name basis, so she was thrown a bit by it.

* * *

><p>"You're not staying?" Yamame asked Wriggle.<p>

"I'll be back later, but…I've got other jobs to attend to. I didn't think celebration of Barrier Day was very big down here, though, so I was surprised that there was such a big order."

"Wriggle-chan, you should know by now that celebration of anything is a big thing anywhere that there are oni."

Wriggle sweatdropped. "Yuugi-san again…" Yamame nodded.

* * *

><p>Daiyousei was probably the busiest of all of them, making a number of deliveries within the Human Village, where Barrier Day celebrations were far more common than they were among youkai. However, seeing as how the majority of the Human Village's inhabitants are nameless NPCs, we're going to cut back over to Chen.<p>

"A lot of buzz going around here, I see."

"But of course. Holidays are an exciting time, so we're always very active," Momiji said.

"Thank you for retracting your original article about our business and writing a kinder one, Shameimaru-san," Chen said.

"That…wasn't exactly willful." Chen didn't quite get what Aya meant by this. "Well, regardless, you've come a long way since then, anyway."

"Thank you." She curtsied.

* * *

><p>"So, you managed to get everywhere you needed to be without getting lost?" Mystia asked.<p>

"Of course."

"Good. Here's the delivery for you two to take over to the shrine."

"Great. Shall we get going?"

"We can't go right over there, silly," Rumia said. "Seriously, going to a festival dressed in black?"

"…Heh…good point."

"I've got the perfect thing, too. Awhile back I got a kimono that was a bit too big, and rather than returning it, I figured I'd grow into it. It would probably fit you perfectly, and I did go back and get one in the right size, so—"

"—we can actually wear the same outfit? Ah, Rumi-tan, this is great! I'm more than happy to follow your lead now."

"Wow, you're certainly…enthusiastic."

"Well, it's just…we never really had a great relationship when we were younger, and never really did the things that twins do."

"Yeah, I know. I feel the same way. It's nice that we can finally be as close as we should have been." They arrived at their home. "Here, let me help you…"

"'Help me?' I'm not a kid, Rumia. And besides, I'm the older twin."

"It's not like that! Putting on a kimono all by yourself just isn't an easy thing to do. I'm going to need help with mine, too, but I wanted to show you how it's done first."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." A pause. "These are very pretty."

"Yeah, aren't they?"

"Did Yamame-san make these, too?"

"No; if she did, I wouldn't have gotten one in the wrong size. No, I've had this for awhile, since even before I met Yama-san."

"You really think this needs another person's help? This is much less intricate than the ones I saw at the wedding."

"Well of course it's less intricate; it's far more casual, though it's still something to be worn only on special occasions. And of course, it can be done alone, but…it's just sort of tradition, you know? So it's more like I wanted to do it."

"Rumi-tan…" Kuroi suddenly realized that something was missing. "Um, Rumi-tan? You forgot to let me put on underwear first."

"You're not supposed to wear underwear with a kimono, silly!"

"Really? Cool."

"Okay, my turn." Even though it was a mere formality as Kuroi could see right through her darkness, Rumia let it down.

Kuroi helped her into the blue-and-orange kimono. "I should probably put your hair up for you, too. You've been growing it out just like I suggested."

"It's still shorter than you seemed to want it, but yeah. I agree, it looks good this way."

* * *

><p>"You're late," Kanako said.<p>

"Eh? We didn't take _that_ long…"

Kanako just stared at them. "…I'm just teasing you. You girls look very nice."

"She's so serious, I can't tell when she's joking," Kuroi said after Kanako had left.

"Yeah, me neither."

"Ah, the next batch of food is here!" Suika cried. "Oh? You're all dressed up for a festival! Are you guys going to be staying here?" Both girls nodded. "Great! It's almost time for the best part!"

"But I thought you'd been drinking all day," Kuroi said.

"No, not _that_. The fireworks!"

"Fireworks?" Kuroi asked.

"Yeah, it's a Barrier Day tradition! You're going to have a blast, I promise!" Rumia wasn't lying. Kuroi felt that this was the most fun she'd had since she'd gotten her new body.

* * *

><p>CCX: So, I managed to work the name I came up with for Nitori's new girlfriend into the very next chapter, which was a pleasant surprise. I don't normally do holiday-themed fanfiction, but when I woke up this morning, I just felt the need to do a chapter to celebrate Independence Day (better known in the United States by its calendar date, 4th of July). Of course, being that I woke up fairly late to begin with and don't have the best attention span, the day was almost over by the time I finished up. So to all of my fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July; to our neighbors to the north, hope you enjoyed Canada Day (which is July 1—amazing that they fall so close to one another), and if there are any other countries out there whose analogous holiday takes place around this time of the year, sorry I couldn't give you a shout-out due to not knowing but hope you enjoyedenjoy it!


	18. Chapter 18

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are the ones that I own.

CCX: I'm afraid this series may be nearing its end…

Chapter ⑱

"Rough night, Kuro-chan?" Mystia asked.

"No, not at all. What makes you think that?" Kuroi replied.

"It's pretty obvious, really. You should probably rest up for a bit."

"I wouldn't want to cost you any profits."

"I'd be losing more money paying you for anything you got done today. Besides, you've been working hard ever since you got here. Don't sweat it."

"Thanks for your concern, but…I'd rather just get to work."

"You mean you'd rather keep busy so that you don't have to think about it, right? Oh, Kuro-chan…you really need to just get it over with and confess already!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, it's pretty obvious that you want to 'get back inside' your sister."

"Don't say such embarrassing things. Besides, Rumia and I aren't like that. My love for her is purely sisterly."

"…You might be able to put on a good façade of that in public—hell, I doubt even some of the others here know—but to one who knows you like we do, you can't hide the truth."

"You're crazy…wait, 'we'?"

* * *

><p>"Hey, Rumia-chan. Is something wrong? You look kind of sad."<p>

"Is that so? I didn't think I was letting anything through."

"Exactly. You're not the type to keep your barrier up on a regular basis, so I figure you must be trying to hide something."

Rumia sighed. "Wriggle-chan…"

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"…Yes."

"I'm guessing Kuro-san is somehow involved."

"Right again."

"You still haven't confessed, have you?"

"Nope…wait, what?"

Wriggle smiled. "Well, at least you admitted it to _someone_."

"That's not fair! You tricked me!"

"I did nothing of the sort. You're just not very good at hiding your feelings."

"…If that were true, Onee-chan would already know how I really felt about her."

"Yes, well…as much bravado as she may show at times, Kuro-san's actually very shy, I think. So you're probably going to have to take the initiative here."

"But that's just it! Even when I do perfectly innocent things that normal sisters would do, she starts blushing and getting all embarrassed. I don't think she'd stick around if she knew how I really felt about her…and she'd have every right to leave."

Wriggle struggled not to giggle. "Perhaps you're misreading the situation."

* * *

><p>"Okay, so as far as you know, you and Wriggle-san are the only ones that have figured out my secret?"<p>

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if Daiyou-san figured it out as well, but she generally stays out of other people's business."

Kuroi sighed. "Well…at least I can trust the two of you not to tell Rumi-tan. She's been such a sweet little sister ever since we got separate bodies; it seems like she really looks up to me—like I'm really becoming what a big sister should be. …I feel so dirty for having such impure thoughts about that sweet, innocent girl."

"…I promise that I won't corrupt that innocence," Mystia replied knowingly. "But while that bit about the impure thoughts should probably stay secret, I think you'd feel a lot better if you let her know just how much you love her."

"I-I couldn't…"

"You're afraid it would ruin your current relationship with her?" Kuroi nodded. "Well, I think your bond is stronger than that."

"Maybe…" Kuroi thought about all of the things that Rumia did for her that made her blush. _That's right…I get so flustered around her _because_ we're so intimate._ Well, that and the fact that whenever they were wearing "clothes" made of darkness, they were essentially nude to each other. But that alone shouldn't have done that, since they were more or less identical and thus seeing each other nude was no different from looking in a full-length mirror while nude…_Could she be…no, that's just wishful thinking. Besides, if Rumia had those type of feelings for me, she wouldn't just drop casual hints like that; she'd _say something_. …Mystia's right. I need to get this off of my chest._ She took this to a literal sense, crafting a top out of darkness and removing the physical one she was wearing. This felt more natural to her. She considered stripping down completely, but Rumia could see right through anything she made from darkness and at the moment Kuroi wasn't in the mood to be baring herself completely to her sister. Besides, wearing only black _was_ dull.

"Rumia…"

"Ah, Kuro-neechan…I was worried I'd done something wrong. You hadn't been talking to me much lately…" Rumia's only piece of physical clothing was the hair ribbon that had once served as the amulet keeping Kuroi's power locked up; everything else was made of darkness. Kuroi instinctively turned so that she wasn't directly facing her sister, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Rumia. "I _did_ do something wrong, didn't I...?"

"No! Of course not, silly…" Kuroi ignored the nudity and embraced her younger sister, stroking her head. "Everything you've done since I've arrived here has been perfect."

"That's…lavish praise, especially coming from you. Weren't you the one that was always telling me what a screw-up I was?"

Kuroi seemed shocked before remembering that she had done just that throughout most of her time trapped inside Rumia's body. "Just the anger of not having a body of my own talking. Also you _were_ much more of a screw-up back then."

Rumia laughed. "Now _that's_ my Kuroi-chan!"

"Hehe…hey!" The occasional "neechan", Kuroi accepted, but this was something new…and unexpected.

"Ah, sorry, onee-sama. I got carried away."

"It's-it's fine. I…kind of liked hearing it, actually." Not so much the "Kuroi-chan", although she allowed Mystia to call her that—rather, the word that made Kuroi so happy was "_my_".

"So I can keep calling you 'Kuroi-chan'?"

Kuroi blushed. "Ah…I kind of like it when you call me 'onee-chan'…"

"Then it must have been something else I said that made you so happy. Perhaps it was that I called you _my_ Kuroi-chan?"

Kuroi turned red all over. "R-Rumia-tan…No, Rumia—Rumia-_san_," she corrected, feeling that anything less would be inappropriate here.

"I think I liked 'Rumia' the best, dear Kuroi."

"…You really like torturing me, don't you?"

"…It tortures me, too. But…I think I understand now."

"Understand what?"

"Eh? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"

"Tell me!"

"No way! You're gonna have to figure it out for yourself!" Rumia was in high spirits once more, almost letting down her barrier before remembering that she'd turned it into clothes. She decided to get dressed, and Kuroi tried to turn away, but couldn't. Rumia pretended not to notice her sister's gaze. "Come on! We're on the clock, aren't we?"

* * *

><p>Mystia addressed a once-more fully-dressed Kuroi. "You couldn't go through with it, could you?"<p>

"I was all ready to…but she managed to charm me with her innocent games yet again. I just can't resist that smile…and I can't risk doing anything that would take it away."

"…" _I guess it's up to you then, Rumia-chan._

* * *

><p>CCX: Well, the "end" of this story, if indeed it is coming to an end, is looking a lot like the end of <em>The Scarlet Devil<em>—with a tsundere finally getting her love. (Although in the case of _The Scarlet Devil_, it was more like _two_ tsunderes—Remi the classic type A, same as Kuroi here, and Sakuya a type B.) It also goes to show that I seem to be physically incapable of writing a non-romance fic. Only problem is, with one of the main characters of the primary romance being an OC, I can't really set it properly into the character filters. (On another note, I suspect that's why _The Scarlet Devil_, fully completed since May, is still going neck-and-neck with this fic in terms of traffic—people really _are_ drawn to romance, so a mainstream pairing is going to outdraw an ensemble piece like this one.)

Oh, and speaking of traffic, it looks as though I'm finally going to go an entire calendar month without my daily hits ever dipping down into double-digits! So far my low on the month is 110 back on the 13th, and with this chapter going up late on the 30th, I should be almost certain to have a great day on the 31st. Interestingly enough, though, July as a whole will only be 5th barring a new all-time single-day high tomorrow. This is…marginally understandable as I haven't done much this month, whereas I was updating frequently from March through June (the four months that rank ahead of it). It also means that I should expect this to be _the norm_ as I've reached the point where I don't need much input to consistently maintain a 100+ daily hit total. (And yeah, even though I don't have anything under 110, I also only broke 200 four times this month thus far, though I fully expect tomorrow will break 200 as well.) To consistency!


	19. Chapter 19

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Chapter 19

CCX: You know that saying "idiots don't get colds"? It applies to computers too. Not even a month back from getting serviced for a flickering screen, my college-issued laptop starts slowing down to an insane crawl, eventually culminating in freezing up completely—_especially _when I attempted to use the task manager or shut it down (so I had to shut it down manually each time.) It would work fine for a little while, so I had taken to only using my laptop in short bursts…but last week, my dad wanted me to install our new antivirus software. It was just about finished installing when…blue-screen, reboots on its own, and doesn't finish booting before bluescreening again and starting a loop. So how does this apply to that saying? Because now that my little sister is off at college, I've regained possession of my _old_ laptop, the one I used to take notes in high school (and wrote some of the older works on my page with, as well as the early chapters of _Dream_—and yes, just as I'd hoped, the version of my _Dream _reference document saved to this computer's hard drive _does_ have the name of the missing Urokai sister). It doesn't have internet access, but at least it has a port for flash drives. It does _not_, however, have the right character set for the enclosed alphanumerics for the chapter titles, but that's just as well since they apparently haven't been showing up anyway and I just never noticed.

…Yes, this is also why a fic that had been dead for years suddenly updated _twice_. For some reason, those chapters, while completed, were never posted.

Disclaimer: All characters are property of their owners. Moeness is all mine, though, although ZUN gave a good backdrop for me to work with.

Extra A/N: This chapter may also be getting a Phantasm version; the section that could get expanded should be obvious. There's a reason that I'm putting this _here_, though.

* * *

><p>"Mysti-chan?"<p>

"Yes, Lyrikun?"

"I just wanted to let you know how important you are to me. I don't think I've properly shown you how much I love you."

"What's with this all of a sudden?"

"No reason. I just…wanted to show my gratitude. You've made my life—afterlife—so much better."

"…"

* * *

><p>"Autumn's coming to an end," Lily said sadly. "Going to have to go into hibernation for awhile…and this is probably your <em>favorite<em> time of the year, isn't it? Ah, not that I'm complaining…I'd even live at your house for the winter if you'd have me."

"That's probably not a great idea," Cirno replied. "In fact…I'm starting to think that maybe it's best if we split up."

"Y-you don't mean that…"

"You're a fairy of spring, and I'm…an ice fairy."

"I can deal with it!"

"I don't want you to have to. Lily-chan, I love you…but it's because of that that I have to leave you. I can't be the one for you. I'm sorry…"

"C-Ciruno…" Lily blubbered.

"Don't cry, Lily. Please don't cry." Cirno tried to wipe Lily's tears away, inadvertently freezing them to her face. "Aw, see, this is what eye was talking about! We can't do this…ewe no, be close two each other?"

Lily started laughing. The fairy freezing her tears was hilarious enough, but now she was so flustered that her regular accent was showing something fierce. "Cirno-chan…" The smaller fairy wrapped herself around Cirno, who instinctively pulled away. "I'm fine. I can handle a little cold. Because…there's a warmth there as well."

"…You're just saying that. My body isn't warm at all."

"But I'm snuggling up with the girl I love. So I'll always be warm."

"…Lily-chan…" Cirno started smiling again. "So, your house stays warm in the winter? Do you have to seal off the entrance to keep it warm, or would I be able to go out freely?"

"You'd be able to visit freely…but I'm probably not going to be great company; I mostly sleep during the winter."

"Eye didn't ask if I'd be able to _visit_ freely. Eye asked if eye could _leave_ freely. You wouldn't have to hibernate if I could provide for you, right?"

It took Lily a little while to realize that Cirno was proposing that she move in with Lily. It shouldn't have been surprising given that she herself had said that she'd be willing to winter at Cirno's, but she was overcome by emotion nonetheless. "Well, I…I guess not, although there isn't much for me to do during the winter, and you'll still have to work…I'll probably still sleep a lot, when you're out. But…yeah, I kind of…like that idea."

"Great. I just have to make sure Dai-san is okay with watching the yukkuris for the winter."

"I love you, Cirno."

"I love you too, Lily-chan."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Chen, what are you doing back home? I'm not used to seeing you off when Yukari-sama is asleep."<p>

"Mystia-san decided to give us all a day off. Something about spending time with loved ones. Very out of character for her."

"Well, I'm glad. It seems like we haven't gotten to spend as much quality time together lately."

"Yeah…I miss my quality time with Ran-chama."

"Heehee… well, there's plenty of time for that now." Ran grinned.

* * *

><p>"Wriggle-chan! You spend so much time down here, you should just move in with Yamamouto and be done with it."<p>

"Ah, well, Yuugi-san, I'd…I wouldn't object to that, but Yama-chan hasn't asked me to yet…" Wriggle blushed.

"Well, I'll see if she's up for taking a break. I'm sure she'd be glad to once she finds out that you're here to see her."

"She's really that busy?"

"All the time. Ever since the Hakurei-Moriya wedding, she's been doing quite a lot of business. And it wouldn't have been possible without your connections…that's it. I'm going to set her straight."

"Huh? Wait, Yuugi-san!" The oni was already off, Wriggle running after her in an attempt to catch up.

"Yamamouto! Why haven't you asked Wriggle-chan to move in with you yet?"

"Yuugi-chan! What have I told you about interrupting me while I'm working?"

"This is important. Your business would never have taken off without the help of your girlfriend. You two are so cute together; you really should make her a bigger part of your life."

"Wriggle-chan's everything to me, but…she has her own life. I wouldn't want to impose on her like that."

"It wouldn't be an imposition at all," Wriggle said.

"Wriggle-chan?"

"I tried to stop Yuugi-san from running off and asking you about that…but you know how stubborn she is."

"Don't you have work today?"

"Nah. Everyone's got the day off. Mysti-chan claims that it's because we've been working too hard, but I know what it's really about."

"…They still haven't confessed to each other yet?"

"Nope," Wriggle replied. "We're all hoping, though."

"So, about that 'moving in' thing…"

"If you want me to…"

"I'd love for you to live with me. You really wouldn't mind?"

"Mind? I'd be ecstatic! Yama-chan, I love you. Even if you _do_ sometimes treat me like your own private dress-up doll."

Yamame laughed. "I'm sorry; you're just so cute that I can't help but want to come up with new looks for you."

"I understand. It's fine."

"Thanks. You're the best. So, anyway, right now I'm working on something for this person here…"

* * *

><p>"So, we all get a day off for no apparent reason," Kuroi said. "Any idea what's up with that?"<p>

"No," Rumia replied.

"Everyone else gets to spend the time off with someone special to them…" Kuroi said wistfully.

"Well, you're special to me," Rumia replied, "and I'm special to you, right?"

"Y-yeah… But that's not what I meant."

A long silence, before Rumia said, "Why not?"

"Huh?"

"…No, it's nothing."

"So what now? Do we go looking for a 'good time'? Seems like a reasonable way to pass the time."

"…I guess, if that's what you want…"

"…Not if it isn't what you want."

"Well, the only person I need to have a good time is you, so…"

"Rumia…sometimes I wonder if you even realize what it is that you're saying."

"Is that so, oneechan? Or do you just not want to hear it?"

"I…" Kuroi was quite confused. Her sister was supposed to be the ditzy one, but here it sounded like Kuroi was the one who was out of the loop.

"Kuroi-chan. I admire you so much. Your strength, your wisdom…your beauty."

"We're identical twins, silly, so now you just sound narcissistic."

Rumia laughed. "But you carry it off so much better than I do."

"It's all about self-confidence. Well, the artificial body probably helps a little, but…you've got the ability to be beautiful too. No…you _are_ beautiful, Rumi-tan."

Rumia blushed. "Hearing such nice things from you… It makes me so happy."

Kuroi blushed as well. "Cut it out, Rumi-tan. It's no big deal, really. I'm…just because I'm the 'evil' twin doesn't make me nasty _all_ the time."

"You're not evil."

"Yes I…no, you're right, I'm not. But comparatively speaking, I'm definitely the nasty one. You, Rumi-tan, are so kind and gentle…"

"I thought those traits repulsed you."

"They did, at one time. But feeling your love…" Kuroi turned bright red, unable to finish.

"Ah, so you knew…but then, if you didn't say anything, does that mean you don't…feel the same way?"

"What? Wait, I didn't mean… same… way… You mean you…feel _that_ way about me?"

Rumia couldn't even look at Kuroi as she slowly nodded her head. "I…was just afraid that I'd lose you if you knew. You get so uncomfortable at even the slightest display of affection… I should go." She started to leave.

"Now hold up! First of all, this is _your_ house, so if anyone would be leaving, it would be me. Second, I'm not going anywhere. The reason your little shows of affection made me so uncomfortable is because it was pure torture trying to remain the dutiful big sister when you were driving me crazy. And no, I don't mean that in the 'angry' sense. Every little 'sisterly' thing you did, I wanted it to mean something more, and I had to hold it in. I _love you_, Rumia! I want to be with you…"

"I feel the same way, Kuro-neesan." Rumia was in tears as she rushed toward her sister. "I want us to be together forever and ever."

"My sweet little Rumi-tan… Always. I promise you, _always._"


	20. Chapter 20

The Adventures of Team 9 Catering  
>by Cyberchao X<p>

Disclaimer: I can't even attribute everyone to their proper sources, because who knows who might show up in this chapter. Though I'll try to keep the references oblique rather than direct; you can look up the Character Battle yourself if you're curious. (Please do; the Touhou characters need every vote they can get!)

Chapter ⑳ (20)

"So how'd we manage such a huge job, anyway?" Wriggle asked.

"And why wasn't Neechan allowed to come along?" Rumia asked.

"Kuroi-san wasn't allowed to be here because she's not 'canon', whatever that means. As for why we're here…apparently Cirno somehow got an invitation to fight in this tournament? Reimu-san and Marisa-san are in it, too," Mystia said.

"Wait, you're going to be fighting in this thing?" Wriggle asked Cirno.

"Yeah, something like that. I'm not entirely sure that this is a real tournament; everything they're telling me makes it sound more like we're putting on a show."

"So being 'the strongest' isn't going to help you here?"

"I'm just hoping I can at least look good. Both of my opponents in round 1 have been in past tournaments, so I've seen what they're capable of. They look strong, too; I might not even have to pull any punches to lose to them but if it starts looking like I'm doing too well I can always 'become overconfident' and break out Icicle Fall - Easy."

"I never thought I'd hear you actually talk about how you could lose a match," Mystia said.

"Well, like I said, Icicle Fall's an emergency measure. Letting either of them get a clean shot in on me is not something I particularly want to do."

"Wait, you have two round 1 opponents?"

"Yeah, this is a weird tournament. Three fighters in every match. Both of my opponents fight with kicks and punches and neither can fly, so if I really wanted to win I'd just fly up really high and rain danmaku down on them."

"Are Reimu and Marisa's chances any better?"

"I'm not even sure how one of Reimu's opponents fights, even _after_ watching footage of previous tournaments, but I've heard the other one is the favorite. He's making his tournament debut, too, so I don't know how he fights. I'm kind of looking forward to watching Marisa's match, though, even if she probably won't win either and we'll all be worse off afterwards."

"What do you mean, 'we'll all be worse off afterwards'?" Mystia asked.

"She's fighting another magician. Even has a hat that makes Marisa's look _small_. She's gonna have a field day after this one."

"Ouch. Yeah, the last thing we need is Marisa stealing _foreign_ magic."

"There are some other familiar names in this tournament, too, aren't there?" Chen asked.

"Hm?"

"Well, I guess I've seen or heard of a number of these people before, because Yukari-sama tends to make surprise appearances in other worlds, but these two have been to Gensokyo before."

"Are you sure? If they did, they somehow escaped Aya's notice," Wriggle said.

"Pretty sure. Or was that an alternate Gensokyo?"

"…What?"

"I live with Yukari-sama. Do you really think I haven't seen alternate realities?" (CCX: As I've stated before, _Lord Over Gensokyo_ is one of two Touhou stories I've written that don't fit into the same continuity as the majority of them, _Secrets Within_ being the other.)

"Well, if he has, he's the most successful competitor to ever visit Gensokyo. He reached Round 2 in the eighth tournament."

"When was that?" Rumia asked.

"A few years ago, apparently, even though this one's the ninth one."

"…The _ninth_ one? Well, now we know how you got in," Mystia said.

"I could've gotten in anyway! Though probably not with such a high seed."

"Is that also why there are three competitors in each match?" Wriggle asked.

"You know, it might be. There are nine competitors known as the 'Noble Nine', who until recently were thought to be unbeatable unless they were facing each other. Even when they went to four-way battles, these nine rarely lost to anyone except each other, and in one-on-one battles, only one other fighter has even managed to beat one of them—and it was making its tournament debut and ended up losing to another of them, so it's still a closed-off group. That thing there," she finished, pointing to…well, the others weren't exactly sure.

"What? I don't see…well, I see _something_, but I'm not sure what. It doesn't look like a fighter…actually, it doesn't look like there's any _thing_ there, just a…"

"A gap. It looks like one of Yukari-sama's gaps," Chen said.

"Yeah. That's one of the reasons why fans of the tournament are still on board. Well, that and the fact that their run was long enough that the losses now don't detract from it. And in this, the ninth tournament, all nine of them are 1-seeds, which for some of them is a considerable improvement over the last few."

"Well, I'll take this. This is the first time we've been free to interact with otherworlders without hiding our true forms," Wriggle said. "Yama-chan's looking forward to possibly making some business contacts."

"As am I," Mystia said, "though it'd be more accurate to say our 'usual' forms since there's a moe field in place keeping us from reverting to our off-world forms."

"Wait, there is? Shit; there goes any chance I had of convincing the crowd to give me a break," Cirno said. "Reimu-san's probably the same either way and Marisa-san might even benefit from the moe field, but I'm better off without it!"

"You're in the minority there. I'd turn into a rather ugly _bird_, Wriggle-san would become a tiny little insect, and I don't even _know_ what Rumia-san would look like without a moe field."

"I don't think I'd look any different. Kuro-neesan would probably remember better than me, though…"

"You're going to have to deal with this, Rumia-chan. I know this will be probably the longest you and Kuroi-san have been apart since you separated bodies, but you're stronger than that."

"Easy for you to say. Your girlfriends will all be here."

"And yours won't?"

"Nee-chan?!"

"You should know me better than that by now. I'm not going to let something silly like being 'non-canon' keep me from you. Though I'll have to mostly stay hidden, unfortunately, and _especially_ make sure that we're never both in the same place as someone who can see through our darkness."

"Why does that make a difference?"

"Uh…well, yeah, I guess we should try to avoid being seen in the same place regardless. But if they can't see through us…we just have to stay close enough to pass as a single darkness youkai." She smiled. Rumia smiled back. "But even those who can see through our darkness shouldn't be a problem if we stay apart. I'll just have to pretend to be you."

"Well, it's probably going to get pretty crowded soon. You didn't by any chance _intentionally_ wait until most of the prep work was done to arrive, did you?"

"Ha ha…you _do_ know me well."

"Nee-chan…" Rumia shook her head. The others mostly laughed it off, though.

"Well, we can't be _too_ close to the start of the tournament, if Cirno-chan's still with you guys instead of in the contestants' village."

"True. I should really be going."

"Good luck!"

"You too, Mysti-chan! This is a huge opportunity for the company, so _don't blow it!_" She laughed, knowing that Mystia was by far the most invested in the company and didn't need to be told.

* * *

><p>CCX: Good luck, indeed. All three Touhou characters have Final Fantasy characters for opponents in the first round, and Cirno's "other" foe isn't exactly weak, either. Reimu's is fairly low-tier, but simply having been in it in the past is an advantage. Marisa…<em>might<em> at least have a chance at second place in her match, if she's lucky.

…I never _did_ go back to finish "Birth of a Legend". I wrote that first chapter fairly quickly, _while_ the Crono-Missingno. match was going on. I had every intention of writing another chapter after that match had played out and continuing it for as long as Missingno. lasted in the tournament, but it didn't pan out. Should be fun, even if I suck at writing fight scenes. Maybe I'll try to work it out. Ja ne!


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